Part 51

The three members of this delegation sneaked out at night and went to Mardin, the capital of Diyarbakir, to seek help from its emir, hoping that he would pay attention to the sufferings of the people of Aleppo. When they reached Mardin, they found that Hussam ad-Deen was highly preoccupied with trying to capture the land of his brother Sulayman, who had died that year, which led him to ignore the affairs of Aleppo and not respond to the request of its delegation. The members of this delegation stayed in Mardin for some time, urging Hussam ad-Deen to go to Aleppo and save it from the siege, and he kept promising them and putting it off without taking any action. They told him that all they wanted was for him to come there himself and the Aleppans themselves would take care of the invaders,320 but their efforts failed. In the end the delegation managed to free themselves from the watch that Hussam ad-Deen had imposed on them so that they would not leave Mardin to seek help from another emir, lest his position grow weak and he lose Aleppo, and the delegation managed to make contact with the Seljuk governor of Mosul, Aq Sunqur al-Bursuqi.321 Aq Sunqur al-Bursuqi' s response to the Aleppans' call for help At that time al-Bursuqi was ill and had grown very weak, so all were forbidden to visit him except his doctors. News of this reached Dabees, who announced the good news in his camp, raising cries of takbeer ("Allahu akbar!") and tabled ("La ilaha ilia-Allah!"), and some of his companions called out to the people of Aleppo, "The one whom you hope will help you has died." The Aleppans were so distraught that they almost died.322 When permission was sought for the Aleppan delegation to enter upon al-Bursuqi, he gave them permission, and they went in to him and sought his help, explaining to them the dangers that Aleppo was facing and the extent of the hardships suffered by the city's people. Aq Sunqur answered, "You see how sick I am now, but I vow to Allah that if He heals me from this sickness, I will do my best to help you, save your city and fight your enemies." Less than three days after this meeting, his fever left him and he started to recover. He soon set up some tents outside Mosul and called his troops to prepare to fight the Crusaders and save Aleppo. Within a few days his army was ready, so he left Mosul, heading for Rahbah, whence he sent word to Tughtigin, the Emir of Damascus, and Khayrkhan the Emir of Horns, asking them to help him in achieving his mission. Both emirs responded and sent their armies to join al-Bursuqi's army which had moved towards Balis, near Aleppo. From there al-Bursuqi sent word to the officials of Aleppo, stipulating in advance that they should surrender the Citadel of Aleppo to his deputies so that he could seek refuge there in the event of his being defeated by the Crusaders. They responded to his request, and as soon as his deputies got what they wanted and he was reassured that he would have secure protection in the event of a retreat, he began his march towards the Crusader positions surrounding Aleppo.323 Al-Bursuqi's vanguard reached Aleppo on Thursday 22nd Dhul-Hijjah 518 AH, and no sooner had he brought up his regular troops than the Crusaders hastened to move to an area that was more easily defended, and camped at Jabal Jawsan, on the way to Antioch. Thus the attackers now found themselves on the defensive, and the Aleppans came out to their camp and took whatever they wanted, whilst another group went out to welcome al-Bursuqi and celebrate his arrival. Al-Bursuqi realized what the Crusaders were aiming at with their withdrawal and taking up a defensive position, so he did not hasten to attack them before reorganizing his troops, for a fear of a huge defeat that might lead to the fall of Aleppo. He sent his scouts to tell his troops to return to Aleppo and said, explaining his plan, "How can we be sure that they are not going to turn and attack us, and the Muslims would be destroyed?