Salah ad-Deen al-Ayubi

Crusades prior to the Rise of the Ayubid (State-Vol 1)

This book discusses the conflicts between the Crusader venture and the Sunni Islamic course of action.

Volume I gives a summary of the Crusades which preceded the establishment of the Ayubid state and discusses the historical roots of the Crusader movement, such as the Byzantine-Islamic conflict at the beginning of the Islamic state, Islamic Spain in Andalusia, the nature of the Crusader movement which was led by Urban II, the movement to encircle the Islamic world which was confronted by the Ottomans, and the new colonialist movement.

I refer to the most important reasons and motives for the Crusade, such as religious, political, social and economic motives; the change in the balance of power in the Mediterranean, in Sicily, Andalusia and North Africa; the request for help from the Byzantine Emperor to the Pope; the character of Urban II, his comprehensive plan for the Crusade, his propaganda campaign and organized way of thinking. I discussed the beginning of the First Crusade and their strategies following occupation; the emergence of the resistance movement during the Seljuk era; the actual participation of the scholars of jurisprudence and judges in the field of Jihad3 and their encouraging fighting in the battlefield