How Palestine was liberated: The hooks pulling down hope
To many, it seems bewildering how those currently in charge of the fragmented Muslim world continue to bicker among each other while Palestine remains occupied.
But the petty disputes that have sucked the attention and resources of Muslim nations in the context of the presence of an enemy are not new; they’ve occurred when the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem was carved out of the Muslim world.
The old enemies within
Blind ambition corrupts blindy
Succession was always a trigger of instability in the Muslim world at the time of the crusades. The death of the Seljuk Sultan Mahmoud II, a close ally of Imad ad-Din Zengi and the one who granted him Mosul to rule, triggered a war of succession between four Seljuk princes: Dawud, Masud, Seljuq-Shah, and Toghrul II. Zengi agreed to support Masud.
The opportunistic Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid bi-Illah Abu Mansur al-Faḍl ibn Ahmad sought to exploit this instability to his own gain once again.
Prior to the advent of the newspaper and mass media, the Friday sermons were the medium through which regions and rulers announced their allegiances and domains. When a lesser ruler wished to announce a change in his allegiance, he would ensure the imams under his domain prayed for the new recipient of that loyalty during their Friday sermons.
Seljuq-Shah and Masud rushed to seek the loyalty of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid bi-Illah Abu Mansur al-Faḍl ibn Ahmad, who ruled Baghdad and its environs at the time. The Caliph granted it to Seljuq-Shah.
Masud sought Zengi’s support, and it was granted.
Zengi marched toward Baghdad to besiege the Caliph, but the armies of Seljuq-Shah and al-Mustarshid bi-Illah met at him near Tikrit. Zengi was defeated.
And Imad ad-Din Zengi arrived, and he [Seljuq-Shah] defeated him and captured many of his [Zengi] men. And Zengi marched in defeat to Tikrit.
— The chronicler Ali ibn al-Athir in his book The Complete History
There, the Turkish Atabeg Zengi sought to cross the Tigris river as he retreated. The governor of Tikrit at the time was a Kurdish officer by the name of Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb ibn Shādhi ibn Marwān.
Instead of currying favour with the caliph by delivering his adversary to him, this officer helped the atabeg cross the river to escape his pursuers and return in haste to Mosul. Zengi would never forget this magnanimous gesture. He pledged indefectible friendship to Ayyub and his family.
— Amin Maalouf The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
Unbeknownst to both, this strong friendship would extend to their future sons, Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub and Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd Zengī.
After the defeat of Zengi, Masud, al-Mustashrid, and Seljuq-Shah reached an agreement: Masud would be the Sultan and Seljuq-Shah would be his designated heir.
Al-Mustashrid sought to end Zengi. About a year later, he marched toward Mosul and besieged the city for three months, but ultimately failed to capture it and marched back to Baghdad.
Fluctuating relations
While he was tied up with conflicts in Iraq and Mesopatamia, Zengi was in no position to effectively look after his domains in Syria. Shams el-Mulook Ismail ibn Taj el-Mulook, the governor of Damascus, took advantage of this. He marched onto Hama during the last ten days of Ramadan and laid siege. He captured the city 12 days later.
Shams el-Mulook was perceived by his subjects as a cruel and greedy tyrant.
He was excessive in punishment to extract wealth, and he showed extreme stinginess and lowliness to the point that he did not hesitate to take the smallest thing with aggression or other reprehensible manners. And his family, companions, and subjects hated him.
— The chronicler Ali ibn al-Athir in his book The Complete History
Their hatred grew to the extent that there was an attempt on his life in his own city.
Shams el-Mulook became so desperate and worried that he wrote to Zengi to surrender Damascus to him and threatened to surrender the city to the Crusaders if Zengi neglected to take it himself!
When his family learned of his intent to give up Damascus, however, they had other plans. They plotted with his mother, who agreed to handle him herself. She ordered her trusted servants to kill him when he was alone.
Even after learning of Shams el-Mulook’s death, Zengi marched to take the city, but eventually failed. He would not, however, give up on capturing Damascus and consolidating his control of Syria.
The chaotic ambitions that drag hope
The conflicting ambitions of sultans and emirs threaten the stability and aspirations of the Muslim world. When such ambitions become a threat of their own, a single focus on the real threat of a foreign occupation must find its way to the seats of power and impose itself on all other goals and ambitions.
