Part 66

The importance of the role played by him and his brother Sayf ad-Deen Ghazi in forcing the Franks to withdraw from Damascus became quite apparent, as did the significance of cooperation between the Islamic emirates in protecting it against the Frankish plans. This is what Noor ad-Deen Mahmood was striving to achieve as the first step towards unity, which represented his strategic aim of liberating the land from Frankish occupation. After the failure of the second Crusader campaign, Noor ad-Deen Mahmood realized the great importance of Damascus in confronting the Franks, due to its geographical location facing the largest and strongest Crusader principality (the Kingdom of Jerusalem) and to its potential and plentiful resources. Thus the idea of capturing it took root in his mind, and he began striving to achieve that aim by peaceful means, benefiting from his father's experience in this field.433 Scholars from the Maghreb take part in defending Damascus Actual participation in the fighting was not limited to the Syrian scholars alone; some reports indicate that Maghrebi and Andalusian scholars living in Syria also took part in those battles. When Damascus was exposed to Crusader attack in 543 AH/1147 CE, those scholars joined with the army of Damascus in confronting this invasion. Among them were the Maghrebi scholar of jurisprudence Hujjat al-Islam Abul-Hajjaj Yoosuf ibn Doonas alFandalawi al-Maliki and Shaykh 'Abdur-Rahman al-Halhawni.434 Shaykh alFandalawi was an elderly ascetic and devoted worshipper. Once he went out walking and Mu'een ad-Deen saw him; he went over to al-Fandalawi and said to him, "O Shaykh, you are excused; we will take care of it for you. You do not have the strength to fight." The shaykh replied, "I have sold (my soul) and He (Allah) has bought (it). We do not let Him off the deal and we do not ask Him to be let off." He was referring to the verse, 'Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties for [the price] that theirs shall be the Paradise.' (Quran 9: 111) He went out and fought the Franks until he was killed — may Allah have mercy on him — as a martyr.435 Shaykh al-Halhawni was martyred as well, after fighting most courageously.436 Shaykh al-Fandalawi was seen in a dream after his martyrdom and was asked, "Where are you?" He replied, "In the Gardens of Delight (paradise), facing one another on thrones."437 Consequences of the Second Crusade There are a number of consequences that resulted from the Second Crusade, including the following: a) It led to an accumulation of hostility in Western Europe against the Byzantine Emperor, because the suffering faced by the German King Konrad III and the French King Louis VII during their overland journey in Byzantine territory confirmed the well-entrenched hostility between the two sides. This enmity would continue to grow during the twelfth century CE (sixth century AH), until it reached its peak at the dawn of the thirteenth century CE (seventh century AH). b) This campaign had an effect on the nature of the Crusader presence in the east. It may be noted that the Crusade movement was connected to a strategic defensive alliance with Western Europe, which gave it all kinds of material and moral support in order to establish this movement, develop it and help it to flourish. Indeed the European alliance gave it all possible protection in the midst of a hostile Islamic environment. Now, after the disasters with which the Second Crusade met, despite all the hopes that had been pinned on its success, it becomes very clear to us that the Crusaders' reliance on outside European support throughout that failed campaign did not help them in any way. It did not even guarantee to maintain the strength that had enabled them to occupy Muslim regions, so long as their greed had no limit, and it indeed had no limit. The Crusader presence in the East was more akin to an infant that was not destined to grow naturally through its problematic connection with the motherland in Europe; reliance on the motherland continued to be the weak point of that infant, for which there was no real solution in the mechanism of the Crusader-Muslim conflict.438 The same could be said for the case of Israel in the modern age. The Crusader presence, using its local resources, was unable to change the situation in 539 AH/1144 CE, and even its reliance on help from the motherland was not sufficient. That is largely due to mistakes made by the Crusaders, which were of such a serious nature that it became impossible to turn the clock back. From now on, one Muslim achievement would come after another until the Crusaders were finally expelled from the region, by means of correcting the mistakes of Muslim division which had paved the way for the invaders to come to the region. The rise to prominence of Noor ad-Deen Mahmood: the Crusader campaign supported the presence of Noor ad-Deen Mahmood in Aleppo to a large extent.