The Battle of Hitteen Ramadhan 1187 A.D.
Glory to Allah (swt) who blessed mankind with the month of Ramadhan and
its blessings, and Who raises among His slaves a servant like Salahuddin who
freed the Holy Place of Masjid al-Aqsa from the Crusaders in the
sanctified month of Ramadhan, in the year 1187 AD.
This article does not intend to narrate the history of Salahuddin, rather
it will deal with three specific points.
1) The Condition of the Ummah Before the Battle:
The state which is supposed to run the Wilayat (provinces) was not in full
control, so much so the provinces were semi-autonomous to the point of
being states within a state. The Wali (governors) acted independently from the
Khalifah. They only sent him the Zakah, jizyah and homage in the khutbah.
The Khilafah was not united as Islam demands. The state was declining. The
crusaders took advantage of this weakness and occupied the Muslim land.
Salahuddin, out of the simplicity of character and directness of his
vision, saw clearly that the weakness of the Muslim body politic which had
permitted the establishment and permitted the survival of the crusading states was
the result of political demoralization. His goal was to restore and revive the
political fabric of Islam as a single unified nation, not under his own
rule. Rather, as a selfless servant, he aimed at returning the rule of The
Revealed Law although he had the opportunity to usurp the power.
This is evidenced by the event of Kurdistan. When the Khalifah requested
this land to be transferred to his rule, Salahuddin immediately complied
despite the anger and scorn of the Ameers of his army. He simply replied,
"The Khalifah is the ruler of mankind and the repository of true faith. If
he were to join us here, I should give him all these lands. So what of the
land of Shahrazur?"
2) The Battle of Hitteen:
This is the Salahuddin, who led Jihad in 1187 to battle the Crusaders.
12,000 strong Muslims cavalry, and about an equal number of troops and
irregulars would form the army. On Friday, 26th June 1187 AD, they
departed to liberate Palestine. It was in Ramadhan, 4th July, 1187 that Salahuddin
with the Muslim Mujahideen would fight one of the most important battles
in the history of mankind. The Muslims, on this day, in one single day,
virtually routed all local Christian forces capable of defending the
Crusaders establishment in the Near East. Facing no resistance, Salahuddin
took his time to reach the city of Jerusalem on 9th October 1187, a
Friday, and the Holy city was returned and purified.
3) Lessons to be learnt from this Battle:
Salahuddin is known by historians to have exacted whatever the enemies
deserve. He did not care about the Romans who were the superpower at that
time. He showed no mercy to traitors or perjurers, Muslims or Christians
alike, who for decades harassed the borders of Egypt and Arabia. He was
not a coward like the present leaders in the Muslim lands who consult the
colonialists at every step.
However battles are not won by a single individual, it was the
infrastructure of the state i.e., the Khilafah that enabled Salahuddin to
rally the Ummah. Yet where is this structure today to free the Muslim
lands and defend the lives of our brothers and sisters? Where are our rulers
today? We have not one hero amongst them who will rally the Muslims to
unite nor will they do anything to halt the slaughter of Muslims around the
world!
Source: Ramadhan.org
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