Part 67

Despite the Damascenes' fears of his political ambitions, they developed friendly relations with him that were better than before these events took place.439 They supported his political position in northern Syria more strongly, and the Damascenes implicitly acknowledged the strength of his political influence, and asked him to help them against the Kingdom of Jerusalem, their former ally.440 The weakness of the rulers of Damascus: this second campaign of the Crusaders highlighted the degree of weakness that the atabegs of Damascus had reached, as they were unable to confront the Crusader advance towards them and were forced to ask for outside military help. No doubt this weakness was noticed by Noor ad-Deen Mahmood, and that deepened his resolve to unite the Islamic front by incorporating Damascus.441 The destruction of the fortress of al-'Uraymah: Noor ad-Deen Mahmood took advantage of the first opportunity he had to work with Mu'een ad-Deen Unur. Raymond, Count of Tripoli, had sought help from Noor ad-Deen against one of the Frankish princes who had joined the Second Crusade with the French army, Bertrand Count of Toulouse. Bertrand did not go back with the Franks after the campaign ended, but rather headed north by sea, parallel with the coast, until he drew level with the County of Tripoli, whereupon he came ashore with his knights and breached the fortress of al- 'Uraymah, which belonged to Tripoli, and fortified himself therein, announcing his intention to capture Tripoli as he regarded himself as more entitled to it than was Raymond. Raymond was unable to defeat him, so he tried to seek help from the other Frankish states. When he got no response from them, he sent word seeking help from Noor ad-Deen and Mu'een adDeen, who hastened to besiege the fortress with their troops. They captured it, took everyone in it into captivity, and destroyed the fortress, levelling it to the ground; each then went back to his city.442 This incident indicates the extent of the bad effect that the failure of the Second Crusade had on the situation of the Frankish states in the Islamic East.443 The Muslims lost their fear of the Crusaders. A number of historians regard the failure of the Second Crusade as a turning point in the history of the Muslim-Christian conflict. In Syria it led to a decline in fear of the Crusaders, which encouraged Muslim forces to launch audacious raids on the Crusader states. It also provided the opportunity for another star of Jihad against the Crusaders to emerge, namely Noor ad-Deen Mahmood Zangi, who revived his father's plan to unite the Islamic front against the Crusaders, which is the plan that would be completed by Salah ad-Deen and was to pave the way for the end of the Crusades. Noor ad-Deen succeeded in taking advantage of circumstances following the failure of the Second Crusade to unite Syria under his leadership this time, at the expense of the Emir of Damascus. He then resumed his Jihad against the Crusaders with a success which encouraged other Muslim forces such as the Seljuks of Rum, the Artuqids and the Turkmens to confront the Crusaders, especially in Edessa and Antioch, and also to form alliances. In this way Noor ad-Deen Zangi was able to unite all of Syria under his leadership, from Edessa in the north to Harran in the south, and to establish a united Islamic state centred on Damascus. This was the first step towards forming the front that stretched from the Euphrates to the Nile, to truly confront the Crusade. CHAPTER IV Wisdom of Noor ad-Deen's Dealings with the Fatimid State Roots of the Ismaili Shiites and the Fatimid state O'fter the death of Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq, the Shiites divided into two groups who both attributed themselves to Ja'far as-Sadiq. One group transferred the imamate to his son Moosa al-Kazim; they are the 'Ithna 'Ashari' Shiites. The other group denied that he was the Imam and said that the Imam after Ja'far was his son Isma'eel (or Ismail); this group is known as the Ismaili Shiites.445 'Abdul-Qahir al-Baghdadi said concerning the Ismailis, "They transferred the imamate to Ja'far and claimed that the Imam after him was his son Isma'eel."446 Al-Shahrastani commented: The Ismailis differ from the Moosawis (Musavis) and Ithna 'Asharis in that they attribute the imamate to Isma'eel ibn Ja'far, his oldest son who was mentioned in the texts initially. They said that as-Sadiq (may Allah have mercy on him) did not marry any woman after his mother — that is, the mother of Isma'eel — and he did not take any slave woman as his concubine, as was the way of the Messenger of Allah (SAAW) with Khadeejah and as was the way of 'Ali with Fatimah.447 The Ismailis are one of the branches of the Shiites and are named after Isma'eel ibn Ja'far as-Sadiq, but they are also known by names other than Ismailis, such as al-Batiniyah. They were given this name because of their belief that for every outward, visible manifestation (dhahir) there is an inward, invisible manifestation (batin), and for every revelation there is an interpretation. Among them are the Qaramitah and Mazdakiyah, by which two names they were known in Iraq. In Khorasan they were called atTa'leemiyah al-Mulhidah (Atheist Educationalists).