Ibn Warraq: Walter Scott, The Talisman, the Crusades, Richard I of England and Saladin: Myths, Legends and History (Part 16)

Walter Scott, The Talisman, the Crusades, Richard I of England and Saladin: Myths, Legends and History
by Ibn Warraq
Part 16
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15

By contrast, here are three passages of real history that contradict the above noble sentiments. The damning passages are taken from the Arabic life of Saladin by Bahā’ al-Dīn Ibn Shaddād [1145-1234], who was permanently enrolled in the service of the Sultan in 1188, and for the rest of Saladin’s life was “his intimate and close confidant, being seldom absent for any length of time” [1]:

[A] “…[A] Frank [a Christian crusader] who had been taken prisoner was brought before him [Saladin]. He ordered his head to be cut off, which was done in his presence, after the man had been offered Islam and had rejected it.” [2]

[B] “[Saladin] once ordered his son, al-Malik al-Zahir, lord of Aleppo, to execute a young man that came forward, called al-Suhrawardi, of whom it was said that he rejected the Holy Law and declared it invalid. His son had arrested him because of reports about him that he heard. He informed the sultan [Saladin] of this, who ordered his execution and his body to be publicly displayed for some days. This was done.” [3]

[C] [After the Battle of Hattin, July 1187, Saladin summons the prisoner Prince Reynald of Châtillon]: “He said to him, ‘Here I am having asked for victory through Muhammad, and God has given me victory over you.’ He offered him Islam but he refused. The sultan then drew his scimitar and struck him, severing his arm at the shoulder. Those present finished him off and God speedily sent his soul to Hell-fire. His body was taken and thrown down at the door of the tent."

Here is an example of Saladin’s Eastern hospitality. Towards the end of the novel, Scott takes a real incident and uses it to dispatch the villain, Grand Master of the Templars. The latter is about to taste a refreshing drink from a goblet, “but those lips never touched that goblet's rim. The sabre of Saladin left its sheath as lightning leaves the cloud. It was waved in the air,—and the head of the Grand Master rolled to the extremity of the tent, while the trunk remained for a second standing with the goblet still clenched in its grasp, then fell, the liquor mingling with the blood that spurted from the veins”. Saladin then explains why he had to decapitate the Grand Master just at that moment, "but had I not hastened his doom, it had been altogether averted, since, if I had permitted him to taste of my cup, as he was about to do, how could I, without incurring the brand of inhospitality, have done him to death as he deserved? Had he murdered my father, and afterwards partaken of my food and my bowl, not a hair of his head could have been injured by me. But enough of him—let his carcase and his memory be removed from amongst us."

[1] Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, Trans. By D. S. Richards, Burlington, VT: 2002. Introduction, p.2.
[2] Ibid., p.30.
[3] Ibid., p.20.

To be continued.

Ibn Warraq is the author of numerous books, including Why the West Is Best and Why I Am Not A Muslim.

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9 Comments

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Domenick | June 24, 2012 8:01 AM | Reply

History, how importent it is. It's being made as I sit writing this comment. The most importent event in modern history has just occurred. Fundamentalist Islam will now rule Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood, "from Inmates to statesmen"

Buraq | June 24, 2012 8:03 AM | Reply

In all three cases given as examples from the real world, as opposed to Scott's Romantic one, the principled individuals choose to reject Islam and accept death instead.

The moral superiority of non-Muslims is clearly demonstrated when one remembers that Islam recommends cowardly lying to save your life.

So, death or Islam? What's it to be? That's the offer made by the Medina Mafia!

Zulu | June 24, 2012 8:25 AM | Reply

Egypt election result: Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi wins

Egypt faces an era of unprecedented "co-habitation government" after Mohammed Morsi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was declared the winner of the presidential election.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/9352396/Egypt-election-result-Muslim-Brotherhoods-Mohammed-Morsi-wins.html

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003546219302 | June 24, 2012 8:54 AM | Reply

Mohammed Morsi was declared Egypt’s first Islamist president on Sunday after the freest elections in the country’s history, narrowly defeating Hosni Mubarak’s last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in a race that raised political tensions in Egypt to a fever pitch.

Youssef

tanstaafl | June 24, 2012 1:52 PM | Reply

Allah is merciful. (sarcasm)

dumbledoresarmy | June 24, 2012 5:45 PM | Reply

From the history brought to our attention by Ibn Warraq.

"A] Frank [a Christian crusader] who had been taken prisoner was brought before him [Saladin]. He ordered his head to be cut off, which was done in his presence, after the man had been offered Islam and had rejected it".

["After the Battle of Hattin, July 1187, Saladin summons the prisoner Prince Reynald of Châtillon]: “He said to him, ‘Here I am having asked for victory through Muhammad, and God has given me victory over you.’ He offered him Islam but he refused. The sultan then drew his scimitar and struck him, severing his arm at the shoulder. Those present finished him off and God speedily sent his soul to Hell-fire. {Well, that's what the vile mohammedans believe; but we Christians know that for his refusing to join the vile cult of blood and war, his clinging to the name of Christ in the face of certain death, his soul has been received into the real Paradise and a crown of life was placed on his head by his liege-lord, Christ - dda} His body was taken and thrown down at the door of the tent."

Across the gulfs of time and space I salute and honour these my brothers in Christ - one nameless, perhaps an ordinary soldier from the fields of medieval France, and one named, Prince Reynald of Chatillon - who refused to convert to Islam - with the Islamic scimitar hanging over their heads - and chose to suffer death rather than publicly deny the Name of the Lord.

An ancient Irish hymn of passionate personal devotion to Christ that was already centuries old when these young men went off to defend Christendom against the Jihad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6tuTOwcb9E&feature=related

"Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart/ naught be all else to me/ save that Thou art..".

Faure, 'In Paradisum'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6tuTOwcb9E&feature=related

And from Elgar's setting of Cardinal Newman's Dream of Gerontius', the magnificent setting of the 'Proficiscere':

"Go from this world, O Christian soul".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uKOX0Q3yhk

Kepha | June 25, 2012 1:53 AM | Reply

I salute Ibn Warraq for doing a bit of what appears to be carefully researched work to debunk one of the prevalent myths circulating in modern historiography.

Maria | June 25, 2012 10:47 PM | Reply

How much is the Muslims Brotherhood already infiltrated right here in the USA.
Watch on You Tube 10 videos on the Muslims Brotherhood in America.
A real eye opener.
Who can we trust in our government.

gravenimage | June 30, 2012 8:35 AM | Reply

By contrast, here are three passages of real history that contradict the above noble sentiments
.....................................

And what are those passages? A beheading, and unspecified execution, and a victim being torn apart by a mob after suffering a horrific maiming.

And all of them in the context of those having rejected Islam—two Christians who were "invited" to Islam at sword-point, and an apostate.

In other words, this might have been today but for a detail or two, rather than almost 900 years ago.

The damning passages are taken from the Arabic life of Saladin by Bahā’ al-Dīn Ibn Shaddād [1145-1234], who was permanently enrolled in the service of the Sultan in 1188, and for the rest of Saladin’s life was “his intimate and close confidant, being seldom absent for any length of time”
.....................................

What? These cruel and sanguinary passages were written by a pious and high-ranking Muslim, and not some "Islamophobe" out to "make Islam look bad"? Unbelievable...sarc/off

Now *that's* hospitality! Just behead your enemies right before they have a chance to partake of food or drink, when beheading them suddenly would have become rather problematic, manners-wise...

And what would more put your party at ease than a little pre-prandial murder? Likely, it actually *whetted* the Muslims' appetites. Their guests? Maybe not so much...

God, I hate Islam.

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