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Upon the capture
of Jerusalem from the Crusaders descendants, the Latins, who
were
in control of Jerusalem, Salah al Din al Ayyubi treated the citizens of
Jerusalem with
respect
and dignity greater than was expected for in those times.
When
the Crusaders had advanced upon the walled city in 1099, rape, pillage, and
murder
were commonplace. Richard the Lionhearted, the head of the Crusaders
army,
received
his nickname for the wholehearted aggressive tactics he employed during the
capture
of the Islamic held areas during the infamous Crusades. Jews &
Muslims were not
able
to live within Jerusalem at that time. Men and old people were
executed, women
raped
or dispelled from the city.
On
the contrary, Salah al Din al Ayyubi displayed great magnanimity.
During
the first few days of Salah al Din’s capture of Jerusalem an account by
Ernoul the
squire
of Balian of Ibelin, the Latin leader who negotiated the surrender of
Jerusalem to
Salah
al Din. The leaders of Jerusalem, including the Patriarch Heraclius and
Balian of
Ibelin,
discussed their military options after realizing they could no longer hold
the city
against
Salah al Din’s attack in 1187 a.D. The citizens and army sergeants of
Jerusalem
put
forth a proposal to launch a massive attack on the opposing forces thereby
‘dying
honorably
in defense of the city.’ The patriarch rejected this proposal claiming
that if all the
men
died, the women and children would be left and most certainly converted to
Islam by
the
Muslim forces. Patriarch Heraclius advised that the city should be
surrendered then the
Latins
would later seek help from Europe in order to dispel the Muslims. They
then
dispatched
Balian to negotiate with Salah al Din. During the talks, Salah al Din’s
army had
already
managed to raise a their flag on the main wall of the city. “Why are
you
surrendering?
We have already captured it,” asked Salah al Din of Balian. However,
the
Latin
forces regrouped and succeeded in driving the Muslim forces away from the
sector
they
had just occupied. Salah al Din was so angered by this that he refused
to settle with
Balian
and instead asked him to return the following day. Fear gripped the
population of
the
city when Balian returned without a truce. The citizens, then crowded
into churches to
pray
and confess their sins, beating themselves with stones, begging for God’s
mercy.
Balian
again approached Salah al Din and asked for a general amnesty in return for
the
surrender,
but was again refused. Balian then threatened that the Latins would
fight to the
death,
burn their houses, destroy the Dome of the Rock, uproot the Rock, and kill
all of the
thousands
of Muslim religious prisoners, (also killing the women and children of the
prisoners).
Salah al Din then met with his commanders and told them that this was the
moment
to capture the city without further bloodshed. An agreement was reached
between
Salah
al Din and the Latins according to which they were granted safe conduct to
leave the
city,
provided that each paid a departure tax. All those who paid their tax
within forty days
were
allowed to leave the city.
The
city was finally surrendered on Friday October 1187 a.d. which was also the
anniversary
of al-Mi’raj the 27th of Rajab. Salah al Din immediately
released all of the
religious
prisoners who numbered close to 3,000. The Latins meanwhile began to
prepare
for
their departure and sell property and possessions to native Christians and
merchants in
Salah
al Din’s army. The church elders, led by the Patriarch Heraclius,
proceeded to strip
the
gold, silver, and treasures from their churches. Imad al Din reported
to Salah al Din
that
the amount of treasure carried away by the departing Latins valued at 200,000
dinars
and
that the safe conduct agreement was for themselves and their own property,
not that of
the
churches. Salah al Din replied, ”If we interpret the treaty (now)
against their interest,
they
will accuse us of treachery, as though they are unaware of the real meaning
of the
treaty.
Let us deal with them according to the wording of the treaty so they may not
accuse
the
believers of breaking the covenant. Instead, they will talk of the
favors that we have
bestowed
upon them.” Some of the grand masters of the sects, Templar and
Hospitaller,
refused
to contribute towards the taxes of some of their older and poorer
parishioners.
Salah
al Din sent his guard throughout the city to announce that all old people who
could
not
afford to pay the tax would be able to leave without incident. He then
proceeded to
release
thousands of slaves at the requests of the patriarch, Balian and his own
brother, Al
Malik
al Adil. Salah al Din also allowed many common and noble women to leave
without
payment;
amongst them were Queen Sibyl & her entourage, the widow of Renaud of
Chatillon,
a Byzantine princess living a monastic life in Jerusalem. Salah al Din
then
proceeded
to release 1,500 Armenians, also without paying tax.
During
the departure of the refugees, Salah al Din assigned each group 50 of his
officers
to ensure their safe arrival in territories held by Christians. One eye
witness gave
the
officers credit for their humane treatment of the refugees, noting that these
officers,
“who
could not endure the suffering of the refugees, ordered their squires to
dismount and
set
older Christians upon their steeds. Some of the officers even carried
Christian children
in
their arms (during the journey).”
During
the whole takeover of the holy city, rape, pillage, torture, and unjust
treatments
were
outlawed and not allowed by Salah al Din as he claimed this was un-Islamic
and not
seemly
behavior from Muslims, war or not. Religious freedom was tolerated,
enabling
Christians,
Muslims, and Jews to live side by side under the rule of Salah al Din, until
the
British
incited revolt in 1916.
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