History of Palestine (The Battle Of Hattin)

The Battle Of Hattin

 

The Battle Of Hattin:

Salah Al-Deen prepared his army from 12 thousand soldiers to the decisive battle against the crusaders. The crusaders prepared themselves, gathered their kings and armies, and formed an army out of 63 thousand soldiers.

Salah Al-Deen passed the Jordan river, freed Tabariah without its castle, and the clashes started on Friday, but it got serious on Saturday 4 July 1187.

The crusaders suffered from thirst, hot temperatures, and the siege by the Muslims because they burned the grass from around them. The Muslims were able to kill 30 thousand soldiers, and catch another 30 thousand as hostages, between the hostages were all the crusaders kings except the king of Tarablus, the king of  Jerusalem with his brother.

This is the battle of Hattin, one of the most virtuous wars in the Islamic, and Palestinian history. The war ended with Salah Al-Deen Al-Ayobi kneeling to God thankfully, after putting down the crusaders tent, and capturing their king.

After the Hattin war the path was opened for the Muslims to free the rest of Palestine, in a few days Tabariah, Aaka were freed, Nablis, Al-Janeen, Altoor, Bisan, Yafa, along with other Palestinian cities. The Muslims headed North to free Seeda(29 July), Beirut(6 August), and Jbeel, then they headed south to continue freeing Palestine, so they opened AlKhaleel, AlRamlah, Beit lahem, and Ghaza. All that was accomplished by Salah Al-Deen in approximately 2 months. However, some areas required years of siege to break into.

Freeing Jerusalem:

Looks were focused on Jerusalem, so Salah Al-Deen prepared his army, began surrounding it in 20 September 1187. Inside Jerusalem were 60 thousand crusaders soldiers that were willing to die rather than give up Jerusalem. During the days of its siege many clashes occurred, Muslims tried breaking into the city, and the crusaders asked for peace, and to give up Jerusalem in return, but Salah Al-Deen disapproved, and he wanted to treat the crusaders the same way they treated Muslims when they invaded the land 90 years ago. Then they asked for peace again, and threatened to kill thousands of Muslim hostages, kill their wives, burn their houses, sabotage the Dome Of The Rock, and then they’ll fight until the end.

Therefore, Salah Al-Deen consulted his companions, and agreed to decline peace with the crusaders. Jerusalem was opened by the Muslims in 2 October 1187, with a lot of mercy and tolerance shown by Salah Al-Deen Al-Ayobi, which was admitted by the crusaders themselves.   

Therefore, Jerusalem returned to be ruled by the flag of Islam after 88 years, and The Dome Of The Rock took back its splendor.

We must mention that Salah Al-Deen continued freeing the other cities and castles that were ruled by the crusaders. That way the land of Palestine was ruled by Muslims again, but these victories didn’t remain as a new page of conflicts and challenges was opened.