Part 52

But Allah has protected us against their evil, so let us go back to the city and strengthen it and try to put its affairs in order, and assemble an army to go out and meet them after that, if Allah wills." Then al-Bursuqi entered Aleppo and began to sort out its problems and strengthen its economic and social situation. He administered justice and issued decrees abolishing unfair taxes and financial wrongdoing, and cancelling confiscations. His justice encompassed all the Aleppans, after what they had suffered in terms of injustice, confiscation and the control of wrongdoers throughout the Crusader siege.324 Al-Bursuqi did not stop there; he also did a lot of work to bring food supplies and grain into the city, so as to bring down the high prices and put an end to the hardships that the Aleppans were suffering. Soon agricultural activity in the region of Aleppo went back to normal, and the farmers resumed working the land from which they had been driven away. Trade also resumed and returned to normal levels, based on the security and stability that the region now enjoyed.325 Thus al-Bursuqi managed to rid this important site of the most dangerous calamity that it faced during the Crusades, and he united it with Mosul for the first time since these wars had begun, which gave this leader — and Imad ad-Deen Zangi after him — the opportunity to benefit from this unity in order to achieve several victories against the invaders.326 The modern English historian Steven Runciman states:327 The emirate that al-Bursuqi formed soon became a starting point for the united Islamic state that was subsequently established in Syria at the time of the Zangids, Ayubids and Mamluks. Prior to that, the Crusaders, who were united by the royal system in Jerusalem, had not faced anything but a country in which many forces and dynasties were fighting for control, which only made Syria even weaker. So what happened, when Aleppo was united with Mosul, may be regarded as the beginning of the unification of the Islamic front, which was later able to destroy the Crusader forces in Syria.328 We should also take note of the keenness of the Muslim masses to become part of a Sunni Islamic entity, regardless of whether its leadership was Turkish, Arab or anything else; what mattered was that they would undertake the duty of defending Islam and the Muslims under the banner of Ahl al-Sunnah. The assassination of al-Bursuqi In 520 AH, on the 8th of Dhul-Qa'dah, Qaseem ad-Dawlah Aq Sunqur al-Bursuqi, ruler of Mosul, was murdered in Mosul. He was killed by religous deviants (Batinis) on a Friday in the mosque, as he was praying Jumu'ah (the Friday congregational prayer) with the people. The night before, he had seen in a dream that he was being attacked by a number of dogs, some of which he killed but the rest managed to harm him. He told his companions about this dream and they suggested that he should not go out of his house for a few days. He said, "I will never forsake Jumu'ah for anything." They tried to convince him not to go to Jumu'ah prayer, but he was determined to go. He picked up the mus-haf that he used to read from, and the first thing he read was, CAnd the Command of Allah is a decree determined’ (Quran 33: 38). He rode to the mosque as was his wont, and whilst he was praying in the front row, more than ten men — the same number as the number of dogs he had seen in his dream — jumped on him and stabbed him with their daggers. He wounded three of them himself, but he was killed, may Allah have mercy on him. Al-Bursuqi was a good Turkish Mameluke, who loved the righteous and those who had religious knowledge; he loved justice and acted justly. He was one of the best rulers, who always prayed regularly, on time, and would get up at night for devotional night 329 prayers. Deviant groups were one of the greatest obstacles to the Jihad movement The Batinis proved their complete enmity towards the leaders of the Islamic Jihad at that time. It was as if their poisoned daggers were paving the way for the Crusaders to establish a foothold in Syria and Mesopotamia at the expense of the Muslims. Historical events confirmed this, as the leaders of the Islamic Jihad during that era had something in common-martyrdom. Sharaf ad-Deen Mawdood was assassinated. Now we find Aq Sunqur meeting the same fate. All of this reflects the fact that the Nizari Ismailis at that time formed one of the most serious obstacles to the Jihad movement against the invaders, because the Sunni leadership was facing two enemies at the same time, which reflected the great difficulties that they encountered in defending the beliefs, religion, honour and homeland of the Ummah. However, even though Aq Sunqur was martyred, the list of mujahideen and those who were prepared to fight for the sake of Allah was still growing.