Islamic Preaching in Syria during the Counter-Crusade (Twelfth-Thirteenth centuries)

One of many medieval manuscripts that Professor Kedar has unearthed and edited (and kindly brought to my attention) is an anonymous Latin survey of the forces Saladin amassed in 1189-1191 for the siege of Acre. The author of this text claims, that the caliph of Baghdad had promised the remission of sins to any Muslim who would join Saladin’s campaign, and, that the preachers who had propagated this idea throughout the Orient successfully mobilized great forces.1 Obviously wrong to assign to the Muslim caliph the religious prerogatives of the Roman pope and his enthusiastic support of the military campaigns in the Levant at that time,2 the anonymous author was undoubtedly correct to assert that Muslim preachers preached jihÁd and encouraged conscription for the counter-crusade. He was probably also correct to claim that Saladin relied on the assistance of preachers, though not necessarily in the manner he ascribes to him. According to a comment of Saladin’s companion and biographer BahÁÞ al-DÐn Ibn ShaddÁd, Saladin “always sought out Fridays for his battles, especially the times of Friday prayer, to gain the blessing of the preachers’ prayers on the pulpits.”