And began their [Christian] vicious slaughter of the Muslim faithful, whether citizens or soldiers. The battle raged for hours. Crusaders killed everyone they could find in the streets and the alleyways. Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City 2/3: Invasion, Invasion, Invasion, BBC 2011
Some Muslims leapt to their deaths. ibid.
The toll was probably between ten and thirty thousand dead. ibid.
Islam resolved to win back the Holy City. And the man who would launch this new Holy War was Saladin. ibid.
A woman was the first convert of Islam. Professor Bettany Hughes, Divine Women III: War of the Word, BBC 2012
The part played by female Muslim scholars has been ignored. ibid.
A fifth of the world’s population believe Jesus was not a Jew or a Christian but a Muslim. Dr Robert Beckford, The Hidden Story of Jesus, Channel 4 2007
The Koran mentions him too – thirty-six times. ibid.
In Islam Jesus is regarded as one of God’s prophets – a precursor to Muhammad. ibid.
At Clermont the Pope commanded the knights of Europe to capture what he believed were rightfully Christian cities and kill any Muslims that stood in their way. Rageh Omaar, Christianity: A History s1e4: Crusades, Channel 4 2009
What followed was the first major massacre of the Crusades. Hundreds perhaps thousands of Muslims were butchered here. From now on this kind of wholesale slaughter would be the calling card of Crusaders in many of the cities they conquered. ibid.
Most people will find it hard to believe that the Crusaders committed acts of cannibalism, but these acts were actually recorded by the Crusaders themselves. ibid.
But it was events in the twentieth century that transformed Saladin into a cult figure. The War against the Crusaders is now seen as Islam’s greatest victory against the West. ibid.
But yet in Europe I am struck by the opposite: by the absence of history and the knowledge of this chapter of Christian history. ibid.
1,400 years ago a man born here in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, changed the course of world history. For one a half billion Muslims he is the last and greatest of that long line of prophets who brought the word of God to humanity. He laid the foundations for a religion – Islam. Rageh Omaar, The Life of Muhammad: The Seeker, BBC 2011
To the north was Christian Byzantium ... To the east was ... the remains of the great Persian empire. ibid.
Most recently a Danish cartoon portrayed him as a terrorist with a bomb in his turban. This led to an explosion of anger and protest right across the Muslim world. ibid.
An orphan at the tender age of six. ibid.
The charge by some historians is that after Muhammad’s death Muslim historians deliberately exaggerated the importance of Mecca. ibid.
According to Muslim tradition Muhammad was meditating as usual and he fell asleep. But then suddenly he awoke in abject terror, his body was shaking uncontrollably. He later described the experience as if an angel had him in such a tight suffocating embrace that he felt that his life was being squeezed out of him. ibid.
His illiteracy has become central to their faith. ibid.
In Mecca, Muhammad and his followers were now public enemy number one. ibid.
Muhammad is then supposed to receive another revelation that told him his apparent acceptance of the old gods had actually been inspired by Satan. Hence, why these verses were later called the Satanic Verses. ibid.
This issue was then taken over by Ayatollah Khamenei, the then leader of the Islamic republic of Iran, who declared a fatwa ... The fatwa has never been lifted. ibid.
According to Muslim tradition one night after falling asleep at the Kazbah in Mecca, Muhammad was transported on a metaphysical journey to a place hundreds of miles north, a city that is also holy to Christians and Jews – Jerusalem. Rageh Omaar, The Life of Muhammad II: Holy Wars
He would abandon his tribal life completely. ibid.
Muhammad was now not only the prophet of a new religion, he was also effectively the political leader of the community here in Medina. ibid.
One Muslim group though the Sufis claim to try to replicate Muhammad’s mystical experience of God through intense prayer, the chanting of God’s name and singing verses from the Koran. Rageh Omaar, The Life of Muhammad III: Holy Peace
Sharia Law – the sacred law of Islam – is very different: it only came into existence two centuries after Muhammad’s death. ibid.
This act of veiling or covering has had a profound effect on Muslim women, and also how the outside world views Muslims’ attitudes to women in general. ibid.
In January 630 [A.D.] the Prophet gathered a massive army of ten thousand men and marched towards Mecca ... Muhammad declared he forgave all his former enemies. ibid.
Within just a generation of Muhammad’s death his closest companions and family were already squabbling, breaking out into open and bloody warfare that led to the deep schism that still exists in the Muslim world today, between Sunni and Shia. ibid.
She is also Queen of 1.6 million British Muslims. Andrew Marr, Diamond Queen I BBC 2012
The Templar Army began its gruesome desert march towards Tiberius without water or shelter. Weak and disorientated. That evening was when Saladin’s forces closed in to surround them. In the attack that followed ... it was the worst single military disaster in the Holy Land. The surviving Christian knights were sold into slavery. Decoding the Past s1e17: The Templar Code, History 2005
Saladin took the city a few months later. The Christians fought back under Richard the Lionheart, retaking the city in 1229. But held it only briefly. In 1244 the Turks recaptured Jerusalem, effectively bringing an end to Christian rule. ibid.
Two warriors came to prominence. Two warlords who would use Jihad as their rallying cry. Nur-ad-Din was a powerful leader who in 1146 took control of parts of what are now Syria and Jordan. A deeply religious man he immersed himself in the study of the Koran ... Nurd-ad-Din’s interpretation of Jihad resonated with his subjects who were eager to defeat the Europeans ... His deputy: a young warrior who was also a devout student of the Koran: his name was Saladin ... The reins of power were taken by Saladin who began immediately to plan an assault on Jerusalem ... The night before the assault the Muslims set the grass around the Crusader camp aflame. By dawn the Crusaders were enveloped in choking black smoke. As the sun rose over the battlefield the Islamic army attacked. After half a day of fierce battle in the searing heat the Crusader army lay devastated. This was a turning point in the history of the Crusades. Emboldened by his victory Saladin turned his attention to claiming Jerusalem. Decoding the Past s2e10: Secrets of the Koran, History 2006
Richard’s early encounter with Saladin’s forces resulted in decisive victories for the Christians. But taking Jerusalem proved much more difficult. Saladin’s armies were strong, and the open ground around the walled city made it difficult to mount an effective attack. The Muslims and the Christians were at a stalemate. On the 2nd September 1892 both sides agreed to a truce. ibid.
Of equal importance in the spiralling decline of the Islamic empires were external factors, in particular the growing power of Christian Europe. The last of the great Muslim empires was that of the Ottomans. The heartland of the Ottoman Empire was Turkey. It began its rise to power in the fifteenth century, and eventually its armies reached the gates of Vienna. It was here in 1683 that European forces decisively halted Islamic expansion. For two months 200,000 soldiers fought each other outside the city walls. In the end the Ottoman army was defeated. ibid.
In 1095 Pope Urban II instigated the first Crusade by declaring Deus Vult, Latin for God wills it. Over the next two hundred years a total of nine brutal crusades devastated the Holy Land and its Muslim inhabitants. The Dark Ages
Almost one thousand years ago Richard I, King of England, set out to war. Not for power or wealth but for God. This was a new kind of war. One that still casts its shadow today. For it would pit Crusader against Jihadi. East against West. Richard the Lionheart: Warriors
Saladin’s scorched earth tactics began to work like a cancer in the Crusader army, spreading dissension. Richard, as the only king among the commanders, led the crusade in battle. But he was not in political control. Important political decisions were taken by the Council of War, a body made up of all the different factions. ibid.
The retreat from Jerusalem was a humiliation for Richard. During the next six months he tried everything to make amends, moving down towards Egypt and attacking Saladin’s supply routes. But without the French he never had enough men to strike a decisive blow. ibid.
The actions of one Muslim warrior echo down the centuries. An Islamic champion will rise and influence the rules of war. Mystery Files: Saladin, National Geographic 2011
Over the next two decades Saladin builds an empire with Damascus in Syria as his capital. ibid.
Amongst the Christian ranks are two zealous orders of warrior monks known as the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. To Saladin they are the ultimate enemy. ibid.
Two hundred and thirty detested Templars and Hospitallers are handed over to Muslim clerics. Again, Saladin acts to Muslim rules of war. ibid.
They are granted freedom from slavery on condition they quit the Holy Land for ever. Many return to Europe with tales of Saladin – a Muslim warrior with greater chivalry than any European knight. ibid.