The Victory That Reopened Jerusalem | The Salahuddin Generation | Ep. 8 | Dr. Hassan Elwan

The Strategic Counsel of Raymond

Raymond started speaking: "Do not go out and fight Salahuddin. I fought Muslims many times before. I've never seen an army like the army that Salahuddin has, and we are not stood up." What kind of talk is this? "You're scaring us of Muslims. You need to renew your faith in Christ. Anybody who does not stand up and fight, irrespective of the consequences, is a traitor."

The Frankish Army Mobilizes

The king gathers all the arms. Remember now, this is all the Franks - the Franks in all the cities. This is the biggest army they can muster. It is said it was more than 60,000, and they head out to meet Salahuddin. When Salahuddin saw this, he said: "It worked. They swallowed the bait." That was a bait. They reacted in the way I wanted them to react. They went out and started heading towards the city of Tabariya, and Salahuddin says: "They came to us and we are in the position of strength."

He made them fight where he wants, when he wants, and how he wants. And that's a recipe of victory. Salahuddin had a plan already laid for them.

The Desert March

The march from their city all the way to Tabariya - it's dry land, desert and shrubs, and it's very dry. And it was summer, the month of July, hot. You can imagine the Templars, the knights of the crusaders, the armor they wear - can you imagine wearing the helmets and chain mail and shields and swords and walking in the heat of the sun?

Salahuddin's Three-Pronged Strategy

So he ordered his army in three parts: a part that he has himself - the center, where the special forces of Salahuddin are; another part with Taqiyyuddin, his nephew; and the third part with Muzaffaruddin Kokbari.

Muzaffaruddin Kokbari - one of the best knights of Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi. He was married to his sister. Muzaffaruddin Kokbari, a very generous person. It is said that in the time when people think that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was born, Muzaffaruddin Kokbari used to slaughter 5,000 cows, 10,000 chickens, and he would feed the whole people. Why? Because he loved the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He was a man of piety and taqwa. And those were the leaders of Salahuddin.

The Battle Begins

And now Salahuddin's plan: delay them. He ordered Muzaffaruddin Kokbari: "Go to the rear end of the army, attack them so that you slow them down."

And here comes the army of the Franks. You have the king in the middle, and then you have the Templars in the front with Raymond, and then you have the Hospitallers in the rear end. Three portions. Salahuddin surrounds them, and Muzaffaruddin Kokbari starts attacking them with a very interesting technique - the mounted archers.

It is said that the attack of Muzaffaruddin was so fierce, and then the Hospitallers would start to repulse the attack. Muzaffaruddin would withdraw. Once they start going back, he attacks again. He pinned them in their place - they could not move.

The Army Becomes Divided

The army of the Franks extended over more than one and a half miles. Can you imagine? The front, the vanguard, and the center - they became separated. And now the king had to make a decision. He was told: "The rear end, the Hospitallers, cannot even move. Muzaffaruddin is attacking and giving them no break. If you choose to move yourself, you'll have to leave one third of the army behind."

So he was forced: "I have to camp the night." Their advancement came to a halt, and they had to camp in the desert, in this dry area.

A Sleepless Night

Night time. Salahuddin gave his orders: "Do not give them a break. They will not be able to sleep." Attacks during the night, drums all around, and they would throw arrows at them. They would ambush them. They would go try to burn their tents. They gave them no break.

And Salahuddin spends the night with his soldiers between attacking and praying Qiyam and making du'a to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Morning Brings Desperation

Next morning comes. The Franks run out of water, and now they're very thirsty. They did not get a chance to sleep. They are trapped in the desert with no water. If they do not reach a water source, they would die out of thirst.

Ibn Shaddad describes - he says: "Those who looked like lions yesterday, when they first came, look like hedgehogs today." Hedgehogs! They threw so much arrows at them that when the morning came, they didn't have time to unplug the arrows. This tells you about the strategy of Salahuddin.

The Fight for Water

And now Salahuddin orders: "Taqiyyuddin, stand between them and the water source - the lake of Tabariyya. They must never reach that lake." And "Muzaffaruddin, you start harassing them and attacking them from behind."

And indeed, the Franks started attacking, attempting with every force they can to reach the lake. Unfortunately, the day passes for them and they are again unsuccessful, forced to stay in the middle of the desert.

Salahuddin realizes: "Next day, they are going to really put all their efforts to reach the water source." So he gives the order to Taqiyyuddin again: "You have to prevent them from reaching the water source." And gives the order to Muzaffaruddin: "Start attacking their rear."

Raymond's Desperate Charge

Raymond, realizing what's happening, gathers his knights - the most powerful of the Templar knights - and he puts them together. The way they used to charge, the Crusader knights, the force of iron. They gather together with such momentum, and then they attack like tanks. And he made it clear: "We have to reach the water source."

And they charge the position of Taqiyyuddin. And to their surprise, Taqiyyuddin did a very interesting maneuver. He did not defend his position. He waited, waited, waited, and in the right moment, they opened the space. And the knights of the Franks passed through, only to discover it's going downhill to the lake, and they couldn't stop. You know, you're charging, it's going downhill.

Now Taqiyyuddin ordered his forces to gather up again. Now he isolated the best knights of the Templars with Raymond at the lake. And Raymond realized what's going on. And Taqiyyuddin makes an exit for him: "If you choose to exit the battle, that's a way out."

Raymond said: "Alas God, the battle is lost." And he took all the knights with him and ran away all the way to the city of Sur.

The Collapse Begins

Now Taqiyyuddin turned back, and the soldiers of the Franks are now exhausted. And Salahuddin started realizing the wind is blowing in the face of the Franks. So he ordered his soldiers: "Burn all the shrubs."

Heat, not having enough water supply, tired, not sleeping, with now the smoke coming in your face, Salahuddin's soldiers attacking you - people started to surrender.

The Capture of the True Cross

And subhanAllah, the Franks had a relic with them. They had what they called the True Cross. According to them, this is the cross upon which Jesus was crucified according to their faith. And anybody with the True Cross, they cannot be defeated.

And Taqiyyuddin attacked, and he focused his attack at the Holy Cross. And he succeeds in going in, defeating the people around it. And Allahu Akbar - he captures the Holy Cross, takes it back to the Muslim camp, shouting "Allahu Akbar! We got their cross!"

At that point, the Franks were completely demoralized, and the foot soldiers started to surrender and started to drop on the ground, tired and exhausted.

The Final Stand

Now the king gathered some of the Templars around him. They went to a hill, and the king ordered his tent to be built. And now those fanatical knights gathered around him, trying to save their king.

Salahuddin started ordering his troops: "Attack the tent of the king." And the son of Salahuddin was with him, and he reports:

"I saw our knights attacking uphill, coming close to the tent. And I look to my father and say: 'We won!' But then I see the Templars pushing our men back. And then my father Salahuddin would become very upset. He would say: 'Shaytan should not win! Shaytan should not win!' And he gives his order for another attack.

"Our men attack again, and they're reaching up, and I look to my dad and I say: 'We won!' But then I see the Franks pushing back the men and our knights back. And Salahuddin is furious again, commanding them to attack again. And then I say: 'We won!' And then my father looked at me, and he said: 'Listen, we are not going to win' - he points with his finger to the tent of the king - 'till this tent falls down.'"

Victory and Sujud

"And as he says this, the tent of the king falls down - which means the Muslims has reached the tent of the king. And at that point, his son says: 'We won!' And he says: 'I look back, I don't see my dad. I don't see Salahuddin. Where is he?' He says: 'I look down, I see Salahuddin in the position of sujud - sujud shukr.'"

That is how a Muslim receives good news - making sujud that Allah enabled him to defeat the big army of the Franks in just 2-3 days. The Muslims reached the tent of the king. That was the end.

Lessons from the Battle of Hattin

This is the greatest battle of Salahuddin - the Battle of Hattin. As a matter of fact, they say: Why did Salahuddin achieve this great victory in Hattin? What is a lesson that we can learn from this?

Yes, it's his iman. Yes, it's his faith. Yes, it's the state of himself and the soldiers. Yes, it is indeed the help of Allah. But also, Salahuddin planned well.

Strategic Analysis

When secular scholars analyze the Battle of Hattin as one of the most amazing battles in history - where Salahuddin destroyed his opponent - they say: "Why did this happen? How did he do this?" And their conclusion is the following:

The reason Salahuddin won such a big battle - it was because he was able to make his enemy fight where he wants, how he wants, when he wants. He was able to trick them. He predicted their moves.

It is not enough to be zealous. It is not enough to be sincere. Those are important things, but do I have a plan?

Using the Enemy's Weakness

As a matter of fact, I can say the following: The reason Salahuddin was able to achieve this victory - it's because of the zealousness of his opponent. He utilized the zealousness of Arnaut, the Templars, the Hospitallers. He played on that. They're very faithful people. They really believe they can win. He used that to his advantage.

It blinded them. It blinded them. And he was able to bait them. He utilized that to make them go fight in the middle of the desert with no support, no water, the way he wants, in summer, in heat.

The Strategic Mind of Salah al-Din

Sometimes, many of us are sincere people, zealous, we really believe in Allah, and we cite the verse:

Many of us say this, and therefore, if there is an enemy, you just charge, with no plan, no tactics, no strategy. And sometimes, this is exactly how our enemy baits us. This is exactly why we lose, because we are predictable. We just rush into any trap that is prepared for us. Are we like the Templars, that whenever something happens, we just rush in? We are not able to put ourselves in the shoes of our opponent.

The Decisive Victory at Hattin

The reason this battle was so great and such a big victory, as historians write, they said: if you look to the amount of people that died, you would think nobody was spared. If you look to the amount of prisoners Salah al-Din has, you say nobody was killed. The reason it was a decisive victory - all the leaders of the Franks and the Crusaders got captured. King Guy of Jerusalem got captured, the master of the Templars got captured, Arnott got captured, everybody. And that meant something very significant: there were no more forces left to check Salah al-Din. Those were the unified forces of the Franks. Now their cities are exposed.

That night, Salah al-Din and his men, how did they spend their night? They spent the entire night in dhikr, du'a, qiyam, hamdallah, tasbih, and tahlil. And they showed their happiness with Allah's victory by celebrating through worshipping Allah. This is the type of men that Salah al-Din had. Those are the type of men that Allah would grant the victory, and Allah will give them the ability to recover Jerusalem.

Justice and Mercy in Victory

The next day, Salah al-Din orders: "Bring me the prisoners, bring me the King, bring me Arnott, bring me the master of the Templars." And they came chained in front of Salah al-Din. And Salah al-Din sees the King of Jerusalem in front of him, tired, exhausted, thirsty. And Salah al-Din gets a cold cup of water, gives it to the King, telling him "drink." Muslims, if you give water to someone, it means he's safe. And Salah al-Din gave that to the King, meaning what? You are safe.

And the King drank, and then he gives the cup to Arnott. And Salah al-Din says "No, no, no, he is not safe. I did not give him the cup. I gave it to you." And then he goes forward to Arnott, and then he tells him: "Here am I, aiding and bringing victory to the Prophet, the one that you mocked. How much you betrayed, what kind of a man is this?"

And Arnott looks at him with arrogance, says: "This is the way of kings, and the way of politics, and politicians. What they expect from politicians? Of course we lie." And Salah al-Din was upset and furious at the vices in this man. And then he gave him one choice, one choice that can spare his life. He said: "Say لا إله إلا الله - the only way to spare your life, become a Muslim, that's it."

And of course Arnott refused. And Salah al-Din unsheathed his sword, and strikes Arnott to death, fulfilling his vow to kill the one that attempted to attack and dig the grave of Muhammad. The King started shaking, and Salah al-Din looks to him and says: "No, it is not the habits of kings to kill any other king, but that one transgressed all bounds. That is why what happened to him happened."

Strategic Planning Before Jerusalem

And people now are celebrating - it's a big victory for Salah al-Din. And the question was: now that we crushed the biggest army of the Franks in the Levant, what is next? And the heart yearned and said: Jerusalem! Finally, al-Aqsa mosque! It has been more than 90 years - the al-Aqsa mosque had no adhan, nobody worshipped there. Finally, the tables turned. The Muslims can finally recover al-Aqsa.

But Salah al-Din did not go for Jerusalem. Why? Because he understood: when you look to the map, Jerusalem is inland. All the coastal cities - Acre, Caesarea, Sur, Saida, Asqalan, Yafa - they're under the Franks' control. If he was to take Jerusalem, what do you think will happen? Many Muslims will be so excited, they will want to worship, and they will say "mission accomplished." Many of them will go home, and they will not continue the mission. They will leave the rest of the cities.

Salah al-Din is thinking as a strategist. If you take Jerusalem, what do you think Europe will do? They're probably going to send another crusade to recover Jerusalem. If the coastal cities are available, they're a beachhead. The crusaders will land, and their next task will be Jerusalem. So his idea was: before taking Jerusalem, let me take all the coastal cities first, let me secure the coast, so now the crusaders are isolated. And later on, if they attempt to come, they don't have a landing spot. And once I do that, the Muslims will stay, because they want to recover Jerusalem. Then after liberating all the coastal cities, we can go and liberate Jerusalem.

Conquering the Coastal Cities

And Salah al-Din orders his army to divide. Taqi al-Din in one part, orders his brother to get some of the Egyptian troops, the Egyptian fleet, and everybody would go to a city. They head for Akka, they head for Qaisariya, Yafa, the city of Asqalan. And the forces of Salah al-Din lay siege.

And Salah al-Din was very generous. See, his character was: once he breaks his opponent, there is no reason to shed more blood. Khalas, let them be. So he would go to those cities and tell them: "surrender the city in peace and we'll be done." And they oftentimes will mock Salah al-Din, start resisting him. He would attack, breach the wall, and then they would send back to him: "khalas, khalas, we want to take your treaty." And he would agree.

And in the city of Asqalan, after this thing happened, and he broke the walls, and they sent back to him: "No, no, no, we want the treaty, we want the truce that you mentioned." And he agrees. And he tells them: "If you go out of the city in peace, I'll even host you in Alexandria. If you need ships to go back to Europe, I'll provide the ships, but deliver the city in peace." And he would let the people go out. The cities of Yafa, Akka, Qaisariya - all the cities on the coast started falling to the hands of Salah al-Din, with the same pattern. He was interested in what? Peace. So he would let everybody go.

Now all those people that left, where did they go? Some went to Jerusalem, the others went to the city of Sur. The only city that resisted was the city of Sur. All the other cities - Saida, Akka, Qaisariya - every city fell to Salah al-Din.

The Resistance at Sur

The city of Sur was ready to surrender, however, an Italian knight came from Europe - his name is Conrad. And he saw people ready to surrender, and he said: "No, no, what is this speech about surrender? Sur is a very powerful city, it is well fortified. Put up a resistance. The forces from Europe - they heard what happened in the battle of Hattin. Another crusade is forming already. Don't give up. All the countries in Europe, they're coming to your help."

And the city of Sur started to resist. And Salah al-Din orders his fleet to come, and the siege drags. And Salah al-Din insists to take the city. His commanders started to differ with him, and they started telling him: "The time for winter is coming, and the soldiers are tired." And he insists: "We're not going to go to Jerusalem till we get the city of Sur."

But then his brother comes to him, and tells him: "Salah al-Din, you are growing older," and his health was not doing well. All these years of fighting. "I'm afraid something is going to happen to you, and if you die, I'm afraid all those soldiers will disperse, and we will not take Jerusalem. Please, let's take Jerusalem now, and I promise you, once we take the city, we'll come back, and we will deal with the city of Sur."

And Salah al-Din, implementing the principle of shura, taking the opinion of others - not a dictator - although he disagreed, but he ended up going with the opinion of the majority. And reluctantly, he left the city of Sur.

Marching Toward Jerusalem

And now Salah al-Din announces: it's time to head for the city of Jerusalem. Can you imagine the news? All the soldiers now are flocking to Salah al-Din. Scholars came - the likes of Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi, this great scholar, the one that wrote Minhaj al-Qasidin, and the great scholar Ibn al-Jawzi, and the great scholar Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, was with Salah al-Din.

And subhanAllah, you have Salah al-Din, the Shafi'i, and Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi, the Hanbali together. A century before, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis used to fight each other, used to call each other names, used to call each other kafir. And now you see the Hanbalis and the Shafi'is united together, and they are marching towards Jerusalem.

The Siege of Jerusalem

And Salah al-Din reaches the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem had more now than 60,000 people - all the people who he let go, now are amassed inside the city. And Salah al-Din wanted peace, so he sends to them, asking them to acknowledge he has the upper hand, he has the army, and he's saying: "This is a holy city. I don't want to do anything. Deliver the city in peace, and all of you will go free. Let's not fight over the city. You're already defeated. Don't make me attack the city."

The response that came from the city of Jerusalem - they insulted Salah al-Din, they insulted the Prophet. Their response was so insulting, that Salah al-Din made an oath: he will open the city by the sword.

The Honor of Balian

And now Salah al-Din's forces gather, and as they lay siege around the city, something interesting happened. Balian, who escaped from the battle of Hattin, comes to Salah al-Din. He says: "Ya Salah al-Din, my wife is inside the city of Jerusalem. Please give me permission to take my wife and my family out. That's all what I want."

And Salah al-Din agrees with a condition: "You only stay there for three nights, and you do not fight against me." And Balian gave his word to Salah al-Din, and Salah al-Din allows him to go in.

And Balian goes inside the city, goes for his wife, and the people inside the city looked - they know who he is. "Balian, the great knight, the formidable warrior, you should be the one to lead the defense against Salah al-Din." And he said: "But I gave him my word, that I will not fight against him."

And the response came back from the religious leaders in Jerusalem: "It's your duty to fight with us. Disregard any promise you gave to Salah al-Din." Balian was very disturbed, between the chivalry of Salah al-Din, and what he saw from his own people. He felt something - this is not right.

Being an honorable man, he sent to Salah al-Din a letter, telling him: "I made a promise to you, that I should not fight against you, but my people, the religious people are telling me, that it's my duty to fight against you. What should I do?"

And Salah al-Din sends back: "If your religion calls for it, so be it. You're absolved from your promise. You can stay, and you can fight against me." And Balian responds: "What about my wife? I don't want her to be here. What will happen to her?"

The Merciful Liberation of Jerusalem

And Salah al-Din, of course, it's not about vengeance, it's not about revenge, that's the last thing he wants, and he goes to the scholars, and the scholars told him, you already opened the city with the sword, this is a holy place, the sanctity of the city is more important than anything, and Salah al-Din tells Balian, okay, if you were to deliver the city in peace, you have the agreement, all of you can live in peace, you can take all your properties, I will touch no one of you.

At that point, the financial advisors of Salah al-Din were really upset, because it cost a lot, those campaigns, and they said, hey, we're almost going to bankruptcy, you've spent so much money, and every time you try to open a city, people go to you, and you let them go, and we get nothing, can you at least ask that everybody that comes out, if they're poor, just pay one dirham, and Salah al-Din agrees, and they sign the agreement.

A Leader's Promise Kept

And then everybody is waiting, will Salah al-Din betray, because they betrayed before, will he really let them go in peace, or Salah al-Din is going out of anger, because of the crimes of those people, will pour his vengeance and his wrath on them, and people watch, as the doors of Jerusalem open, and people start coming out, to find the soldiers, the knights of Salah al-Din, guarding all doors, and to their surprise, they're safe.

Salah al-Din even offered, if you want to go and sail to Europe, if you need ships, go to Alexandria, we have free guest houses, you can go there, and we will send you to Europe, no problems, if you want to go to the city of Sur, you are free to go, you're safe, and people started going out in peace.

Paying for the Poor

And Qutb al-Din al-Naisaburi, one of the scholars around Salah al-Din noticed something, where are the poor people, the rich people are going out with wealth, and gold, and silver, nobody's paying anything for the poor people, and then he noticed something, the priest, the patriarch of the church of Jerusalem, is coming out himself, with gold, and silver, and wealth, and he was so disgusted, and he looks to Salah al-Din, and he says, what kind of a man is this, he's leaving the poor people, taking the wealth of the church, and going out, we did not promise them this, confiscate it, this is not his personal property, this is the wealth of Jerusalem.

And Salah al-Din responds, he says, no, no, no, let them know, that a Muslim never betrays his word, let them know, that when Muslims say something, they are truthful, we said they're free, let him go, no matter what.

And at that moment, the brother of Salah al-Din comes, ya Salah al-Din, here is 1000 dinars, the poor people inside the city, nobody is paying for them, I am giving you, on their behalf, freedom for my sake.

At that point, Salah al-Din takes note, and he announces, any person who is in need, any person who wants some help, that cannot pay, come to me, Salah al-Din will pay on your behalf, and poor people started going to Salah al-Din al-Ayubi, and asking him to pay for them, he's paying for them, and they go free.

Extraordinary Compassion

At that point, a woman came to Salah al-Din, yelling and shouting and disrespecting Salah al-Din, yelling at him, murderer, you killed my father in the battle of Hattin, and my husband is your prisoner, and you're asking me to pay one dinar, murderer, emotionally upset.

And Salah al-Din responded, he said, as for your dinar, I am paying it for you, as for your father, he died in an unjust battle that he started himself, as for your husband, get the prisoner, your husband is free, for your sake, and for your children's sake.

And the woman, shocked, completely, by the generosity of Salah al-Din, paused, and then said a statement that's very powerful, she said, sir, I am sorry, may God curse the ones that told us lies on you, they made you seem that you're the devil, I see what they were saying about you is a lie, I am sorry, and she starts making du'a for Salah al-Din.

And he sees a group of women crying, and he starts asking, why are they crying, and they tell him, those are the widows of the people, the knights and the soldiers that fought you in the battle of Hattin, those are the widows.

And Salah al-Din starts to become teary-eyed, and he announces, any woman that her husband died fighting Salah al-Din, come forth, Salah al-Din will take care of you, if your husband is a prisoner of Salah al-Din, your husband is free, for your sake.

The compassion of Salah al-Din that he showed, and people were really, really touched, and people started to leave the city in peace, that's what he wanted, that is who Salah al-Din was, that is a person that embodies the prophetic character.

The Blessed Entry into Jerusalem

And the day came, where now Salah al-Din can enter Jerusalem, and سبحان الله, Salah al-Din, this man of إحسان, this man that really followed the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, enters Jerusalem on the night of Friday, the 27th of Rajab.

And why is that significant, not only it's a Friday night, the 27th of Rajab, this is the time where Muslims celebrate Al-Isra, Al-Mi'raj, this is the time where Muslims think that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made his night journey to Jerusalem. Salah al-Din enters the city the same night, the 27th of Rajab, that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم entered the city.

Is the reward of being a محسن anything other than Allah سبحانه وتعالى shows you إحسان and wellness and beauty, a beautiful character like Salah al-Din deserves a beautiful entry to Jerusalem.

And it is said he enters the same way the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم entered head down, tears coming out and it is said all what he wanted is to go visit the holy places and pray.

The Defiled Masjid al-Aqsa

And the knights of Salah al-Din now rush to the Aqsa Masjid, to Aqsa, finally am I going to be the first person to pray in the Aqsa Masjid, can you imagine, can you imagine how you would feel the liberation of the Aqsa Masjid.

And the Muslims run to the Aqsa Masjid and they are shocked what happened, the Aqsa Masjid, half of it has been turned into a toilet, half of it is a stable for their horses.

The Masjid of Umar, you know when Umar ibn al-Khattab entered Jerusalem as we all know and it was time for salah and he was in the church and he was about to pray and people told him pray in the church and he said no no no because people will come and they might take that away from you and he went outside and he prayed, surely enough later people built a masjid where Umar ibn al-Khattab prayed and they called it Masjid Umar, if anything it's a masjid of tolerance, the crusaders destroyed the Masjid of Umar, they defiled the Dome of the Rock.

Following the Example of Umar

And the Muslims were so offended and they went to Salah al-Din and they said look what they did, destroy their church, now that we're in a position of power, reciprocate, destroy their church.

The response that came from the heart of Salah al-Din, Umar ibn al-Khattab left this church alone and you want me to destroy it, they are not our teacher, the teacher of Salah al-Din is Umar ibn al-Khattab and the teacher of Umar ibn al-Khattab is the Prophet.

The way Salah al-Din entered Jerusalem is the same way Umar ibn al-Khattab earlier on entered Jerusalem, the way Umar ibn al-Khattab entered Jerusalem is the same way the Prophet entered Mecca. Salah al-Din mirrored prophetic light, prophetic compassion and mercy to mankind, that is why he was so beloved and he left the church alone.

And now the knights that used to fight in the battlefield became the janitors of the Aqsa Mosque and they started getting rose water, cleaning the Aqsa Mosque, preparing for the first Friday prayer in that place.

The First Khutbah and Nur al-Din's Pulpit

And scholars rushed to Salah al-Din, everybody who's going to give the first khutbah in the Aqsa Mosque and can you imagine, Salah al-Din assigned the judge Muhyi al-Din ibn Zaki to be the person that gives the first khutbah in the Aqsa Mosque.

But then he did something else, he said where is the pulpit that Nur al-Din Zinki built, remember years ago when Nur al-Din Zinki ordered a pulpit to be built and he said this is a pulpit I'll place in the Aqsa Mosque when Allah frees it, Salah al-Din remembers his teacher loyal to Nur al-Din, bring the pulpit of Nur al-Din Zinki and he placed it in the Aqsa Mosque.

And Friday day comes and Muhyi al-Din ibn Zaki stands up gives a beautiful khutbah, a powerful khutbah, what lessons he told the people, lessons in humility telling the soldiers of Salah al-Din about this is so great and this is a favor that Allah bestowed upon you, don't think that is you that did this, don't think it is your bravery or it's your arms or it's your swords, it is Allah and be happy not only that you did this that Allah chose you to be the ones that he grant this on your hand and know that it's not over, you have to continue, the Franks are not out yet and you have to be modest.

Salah al-Din's Du'a of Gratitude

And at the end of the khutbah he makes a beautiful du'a for Salah al-Din and it tells us about the state of Salah al-Din and he says make your angels surround your servant Salah al-Din and then he asks Allah, Ya Rabbi respond to his du'a, Salah al-Din used to make a du'a every single place that he used to pray and what was the du'a of Salah al-Din in this situation:

A verse from the Quran, dear Lord grant me the ability to show gratitude and appreciation for this big blessing that you gave to me and my family, so what happened is what a blessing that he needs to spend the rest of his life thanking Allah for and he all what he wanted from Allah grant me the ability to be appreciative and grateful for this big blessing that you gave on my hand.

And the imam makes a du'a, Ya Rabb grant Salah al-Din this du'a of his when he asks this and سبحان الله Salah al-Din orders the renewal of the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and it is written in the Dome of the Rock:

Ordered the renewal of this holy place and the re-establishment of the Aqsa Mosque the one that is upon taqwa the wellness of dunya and din when Allah opened it on his hands notice this it's not when he did he did nothing when Allah opened it on his hands and he is asking Allah to grant him the ability to be grateful and appreciative of such kind of a blessing and to make his share of Allah's forgiveness and compassion and mercy abundant.

This was Salah al-Din al-Ayubi and Salah al-Din spends the following month in the city of Jerusalem doing what schools hospitals taking care of the Muslims this dinars that he got before leaving Jerusalem Salah al-Din already spent all.

The True Character of Salah al-Din

This is who Salah al-Din is that is why we love him we do not do him justice when we think that Salah al-Din is just one of those and he was one of those strong warriors that just destroyed the crusaders he was much more than that the character of Salah al-Din the compassion of Salah al-Din the clemency of Salah al-Din was more amazing.

Final Acts of Mercy

Before he leaves Jerusalem something else what is it the wife of the king came to him king Guy and said ya Salah al-Din my husband the king is your prisoner can you please release him and Salah al-Din said yes under one condition you promise not to fight me and the king said of course he said go you are free no money no ransom.

And at that point the wife of Arnaut came the son of Arnaut is your prisoner can you free him for my sake and he said yes he's safe but promise not to fight against me the master of the Templars his wife can you release the master of Templars and Salah al-Din looks at him and he says promise not to fight...

To fight against me and you're free. Salah al-Din started freeing people. What do you think happened next? The same people that Salah al-Din freed, you think they kept their promise?