The most significant episode of the inconclusive Second Crusade, which was begun under the shadow of the loss of Edessa, was the short and ineffective siege of Damascus (1148).
Ibn al-Qalānisi was an eye-witness, and his account completes and complements that of Ibn al-Athīr. Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi adds some picturesque details. The heroic death for his Faith and his country of the old faqīh al-Findalawi could be taken as a symbol of the most noble and austere aspects of the Muslim resistance.
THE SECOND CRUSADE. THE SIEGE OF DAMASCUS (IBN AL-QALĀNISI, 297–300)
At the beginning of 543/1148 news was brought from several sources of the arrival of a Frankish fleet on the Syrian coast. Troops disembarked at the ports of Tyre and Acre to link up with the Franks already there. These were estimated at 100,000 men, allowing for the depredations of war, plague and famine. After the new arrivals had completed the obligatory pilgrimage to Jerusalem and returned, some by land and some by sea, they assembled in the camps of the King of Germany,1 the leading Frankish noble there, and of other, lesser princes. They had not decided which of the Muslim cities of Syria to attack. In the end they decided to besiege Damascus, for in their evil hearts they deluded themselves that they could take it, since the town and country districts merge into one another. The amīr of Damascus, Mu‘īn ad-Din Unur, received several warnings of the invasion and made preparations to defend his realm and repulse the enemy. He fortified the more exposed positions, manned the communication trenches and the loopholes, cut off supplies to enemy bases and blocked up water-holes and springs. Meanwhile about 50,000 infantry and cavalry, with trains of camel and oxen, were marching on Damascus. As they approached the city they made for the district known as Manazil al-‘Askar (Military Encampment) but found that the water supply had been cut off. So they moved on to al-Mizza and encamped there, in order to be near water. They besieged the city with cavalry and infantry. On Saturday 6 rabī‘ I 543/ 24 July 1148 the Muslims challenged them to fight, and the battle began. The army from Damascus had large numbers of auxiliaries; experienced Turkish storm-troopers, the citizen militia and volunteers fighting for the Faith. After a fierce struggle the Franks, superior in numbers and equipment, overwhelmed the Muslims, seized the water supplies and encamped in the gardens surrounding the city. They closed in on the city walls, coming up closer than any army in ancient or modern times had ever been. On this day the Malikite lawyer and scholar, the imām Yusuf al-Findalawi—God have mercy on him!—fell in battle,
1 The Emperor Conrad III. The part played by Louis VII of France is almost entirely ignored by Muslim writers.
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 35 a martyr for the Faith, by the river at ar-Rabwa. He was facing the enemy and refusing to withdraw, in obedience to the precepts of God Almighty in His noble Book.1 The devout
‘Abd ar-Rahmān al-Halhuli met the same fate.
The Franks set to work to cut down the trees and build fortifications with them, and to destroy the bridges. This occupied them for the whole of the night. The population of Damascus, after the experiences of the last hours, were disheartened and uncertain what to do. But at dawn on the Sunday the Muslim army made a sortie, attacked the Franks, and defeated them, killing and wounding large numbers. The amīr Mu‘īn ad-Din performed prodigious feats in this battle, showing unparalleled valour, tenacity and indefatigable prowess in his onslaught on the enemy. The battle raged long and furiously. The infidel cavalry waited to make the charges, for which it is famous, until a favourable opportunity presented itself. Fighting was still going on at sunset. Night fell, the battle had to cease for a while, and the troops retired to their billets. The regular soldiers spent the night facing the enemy, while the population mounted guard on the walls as a security measure against an enemy so close at hand.
Meanwhile letters had been sent to the provincial governor to ask his help. Turcoman cavalry and infantry from the province poured into the area. In the morning, reinforced and heartened, the Muslims returned to the battle. They stood firm and sent clouds of arrows from long-bows and cross-bows to rain down on the enemy’s cavalry and infantry, horses and camels.
That day a large detachment of archers arrived on foot from the Biqā‘, increasing the number of defenders and doubling their supply of arms. That day both sides stood firm, but on the Tuesday our army attacked like eagles on mountain partridges, or sparrow-hawks on the quails’ nest. They surrounded the Frankish camp, which had been barricaded with tree-trunks from the orchards, and broke down the defences with arrows and stones. The Franks, frightened and disheartened, dared not come out. When not one showed himself the Muslims began to think that some plot or ambush was afoot. The only troops to appear were cavalry and infantry patrols on raiding missions. They dared not take the initiative until they could see an opportunity to charge the Muslims, or an avenue of escape. Anyone bold enough to come within range of the Muslims was struck down by an arrow, stone or lance.
Men of the Damascus militia and from the surrounding regions lay in wait for the Franks along paths they thought safe and killed anyone who used them. The heads were taken to Damascus to be exchanged for a reward; in this way a large number of heads was collected.
News reached the Franks from many sources that the Muslims were bearing down on them to attack them and wipe them out, and they felt that their defeat was certain. They consulted among themselves, and decided that the only escape from the trap or abyss that loomed ahead of them was to take flight. At dawn on the following Wednesday they retreated in miserable confusion and disorder.
When the Muslims saw that they had gone, and observed the traces that they left in their flight, they set off the same morning to pursue them. They showered them with arrows and killed many of their rearguard in this way, and horses and pack animals as well. Innumerable corpses of men and their splendid mounts were found in their bivouacs and along the route
1I.e. the Qur’anic teaching about the Holy War; no particular passage is referred to here.
36 Arab Historians of the Crusades
of their flight,1 the bodies stinking so powerfully that the birds almost fell out of the sky.
That very night they set fire to ar-Rabwa and al-Qubba al-Mamduda.
This gracious sign of God’s favour brought rejoicing to Muslim hearts, and they gave thanks to the Most High for hearing the prayers raised unceasingly to Him in the days of their distress. For which let God be praised and blessed!
(IBN AL-ATHĪR, XI, 85–6)
In this year (543/1148) the King of Germany left his homeland with a large army of Franks to attack the Muslim empire. He had no doubt that with his vast supplies of men, money and equipment he would be victorious after only a brief struggle. On his arrival in Syria the Franks there presented themselves to offer their obedience and put themselves at his command. He ordered them to follow him to Damascus, to besiege and take it, as he thought. They marched off with him and surrounded the city.
The ruler of Damascus was Mujīr ad-Din Abaq ibn Muhammad ibn Buri ibn Tughtikīn, but he wielded no effective power, the real commander being Mu‘īn ad-Din Unur, one of his grandfather Tughtikīn’s mamlūks. It was he who had put Mujīr ad-Din on the throne. He was a wise and just man, upright and God-fearing. He assumed responsibility for mustering an army and defending the city. For a while the Franks kept up the siege, and then on 6 rabī‘ 1/24 July they moved in to attack, cavalry and infantry together. The army came out of Damascus to meet them and fought relentlessly. Among the soldiers was the lawyer Hujjat ad-Din Yusuf ibn Dibās al-Findalawi of the Maghrib, a very old man and a lawyer of absolute probity. When Mu‘īn ad-Din saw him marching on foot he went to meet him, greeted him and said: ‘Sir, your age gives you dispensation; I will concern myself with the defence of Islām!’ and he begged him to retire. But the old man refused, saying: ‘I have offered myself for sale, and He has bought me. By God, I neither agreed nor asked that the contract should be annulled!’ He was referring to the words of Almighty God: ‘God has bought the faithful, both themselves and their possessions, and given them Paradise in exchange.’1 He went on to fight the Franks until he was killed, near an-Nairab, half a farsakh from Damascus.
The Franks gained ground and the Muslims weakened. The German king advanced as far as al-Maidān al-Akhdar (the Green Square), and everyone was convinced that he would take the city. Meanwhile Mu‘īn ad-Din had sent a message to Saif ad-Din Ghazi, son of the Ata-beg Zangi and ruler of Mosul, calling on him to come to the aid of the Muslims and to drive off the enemy. Saif ad-Din marshalled his army and marched into Syria, bringing with him his brother Nur ad-Din Mahmūd1 from Aleppo. When they reached Hims, Saif ad-Din sent to Mu‘īn ad-Din to say: ‘I have come with every man in my realm capable of bearing arms. I ask that a condition of my attacking the Franks shall be the presence
1 Among whom, perhaps, ‘freed from the deceptive world’, lay Cacciaguida, the great-great-grandfather of Dante, the only relative of his to figure significantly in the Divine Comedy (Paradiso XV).
1 Qur’ān IX, 112.
1 The ‘Norandin’ of the Crusaders; Islām’s champion before Saladin.
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 37 of my representatives in Damascus. If I am defeated, I shall take my army inside the city and defend it from within. If we are victorious, the city is yours, and I shall not question your right to it.’ To the Franks he sent a threatening message urging them to retreat from Damascus. The Franks broke off the fight, for they had many casualties, and were alarmed at the prospect of having to face Saif ad-Din as well as the army from Damascus. They decided to conserve their forces, while the citizens repaired the defences and drew breath after the labour of unceasing combat. Meanwhile Mu‘īn ad-Din sent to the Franks to say:
‘The King of the East has arrived; if you do not retreat I shall hand the city over to him, and then by God you will repent.’ To the Syrian Franks he wrote: ‘What reason have you for supporting these people against us when you know that if they take the city they will seize your possessions on the coast? I warn you that if I feel that I am losing the battle I shall hand the city over to Saif ad-Din, and you may be sure that if he becomes ruler of Damascus you will not be allowed to keep a foothold in Syria.’ This message persuaded them to break their alliance with the King of Germany in exchange for the fortress of Baniyās from Mu‘īn ad-Din. So the Syrian Franks had a private discussion with the King of Germany and frightened him with their tales of Saif ad-Din, his vast army, his constant reinforcements, and the probability that he would take Damascus despite anything that they could do to prevent him. They were so persuasive that the king withdrew his troops from Damascus. The Syrian Franks took over Baniyās and the German Franks returned to their homeland, which is north of Constantinople and to one side. Thus God delivered the believers from their distress. Abu l-Qasim ibn ‘Asakir, in his history of Damascus, says that a certain learned lawyer said that he saw al-Findalawi in a dream and asked him: ‘How has God treated you and where are you?’ and received the reply, ‘God has pardoned me. I am in the garden of Eden (among the blessed) stretched on couches set to face one another.’1
(SIBT IBN AL-JAUZI, 300)
… It was harvest time. The Franks went down into the valley and ate much of the crop, and this gave them dysentery. Many died of it, and all the others were ill. The people of Damascus were in great need, but gave alms of what they had, each in proportion to his possessions. The whole population, men, women and children, assembled in the Great Mosque. Uthmān’s Qur’ān2 was displayed, and the people sprinkled their heads with ashes and wept tears of supplication. And God heard their prayers.
The Franks had with them a great Priest with a long beard, whose teachings they obeyed.
On the tenth day of their siege of Damascus he mounted his ass, hung a cross round his neck, took two more in his hand and hung another round the ass’s neck. He had the Testaments and the crosses and the Holy Scriptures set before him and assembled the army in his presence; the only ones to remain behind were those guarding the tents. Then he said: ‘The Messiah has promised me that today I shall wipe out this city.’ At this moment the Muslims opened the city gates and in the name of Islām charged as one man into the face of death.
1 Qur’ān XXXVII, 42–43.
2 A precious copy of the Holy Book dating from the time of the first collation of the text under the Caliph ‘Uthmān (644–56); it might even be the very copy he was reading when he was murdered.
38 Arab Historians of the Crusades
Never, in pagan times or since the coming of Islām, was there a day like this. One of the men of the Damascus militia reached the Priest, who was fighting in the front line, struck his head from his body and killed his ass too. As the whole Muslim army bore down upon them the Franks turned and fled. The Muslims killed 10,000, smote their crosses and their cavalry with Greek fire, and pursued the army as far as the tents. Night separated them, and in the morning the Franks were gone and no trace of them remained.