Page 117 - A Call for a Turkish-Islamic Union

Harun Yahya - Adnan Oktar

pire centered on Jerusalem after slaughtering the native popula-
tion. However, decades later, the Muslim commander Saladin
united the different Muslim groups under his command and de-

feated the invaders.
Nevertheless, defeating the Crusaders was not going to hap-
pen overnight. Saladin not only united the Muslims under one
flag, but also started a scientific and moral awareness. The Ency-
clopedia Britannica says:
It was an essential part of his [Saladin's] policy to encourage
the growth and spread of Muslim religious institutions. He
courted its scholars and preachers, founded colleges and
mosques for their use, and commissioned them to write edifying
works . . . Through moral regeneration, which was a genuine
part of his own way of life, he tried to re-create in his own
realm some of the same zeal and enthusiasm that had proved
so valuable to the first generations of Muslims when, five cen-
turies before, they had conquered half the known world. 10

When this moral, scientific, and religious regeneration com-
bined with political unity, Islamic civilization rose once more.
Saladin, commanding a united Islamic army, defeated the dis-
banded and demoralized Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin in
1187 and freed almost all of the occupied Palestinian land, in-
cluding Jerusalem.
One of the most prominent aspects of Saladin's Islamic

Union was that it represented the Qur'anic ideals of justice, mod-
eration, and peacefulness. While best known for this military vic-
tory, Saladin was also very forgiving and just toward the Cru-
saders as well as all other Christians. Even though the Crusaders
had inflicted unspeakable cruelty on the Muslims, Saladin ex-
acted no revenge upon them, and no civilian was harmed when
he freed Jerusalem. In addition, he maintained his authority over

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