Saladin Quotes

See {582893} for Saladin's Reply. King Richard was the leader of all the Christian forces in the Holy Land for the Crusade. There was a belief, that a wooden cross in the possession of the Muslim force was the true cross of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

One fascinating thing about this quotation is that the assumption is automatic that the war is for the purpose of converting the enemy to Islam. At the beginning of Islam this was the only reason for initiating a war. After the death of the Prophet, greed, jealousy, and power became causes of war for the Muslims just as with most other peoples. This quotation has been used by people in conflict with Muslims to refuse any Muslim overtures for a cease fire or truce, as it will not lead to peace unless they are willing to convert and it is likely that the Muslims are getting the worst of the battle and just want to regroup and obtain respite or reinforcements. According to this fatwa, Muslims will never agree to a truce if they are winning or even taking many casualties. Or they may make a truce with “anti-Islamic” conditions with no intention of adhering to the conditions—that is if they are following the Muslim jurisprudence which some Muslim leaders do not,

When the Turks defeated the Christians, the only explanation many Christians could conceive of was that God was on the side of the Turks.

The Sultan responded (See {612151}) The King should have worried. The Sultan’s troops soundly defeated the French and then beheaded tens of thousands of French prisoners. The King was captured and ransomed.

The juxtaposition of scenes of murder and brutality together with God and holy purposes seems foreign to us today. It is extant among some Islamic groups who exult in similar scenes while calling to God. This “barbarity” is historically not just Islamic but was typical of Christians as well. Beheading was common in the Crusades, and it is still popular among some of the Islamic extremists who look to the “old days” as a model for them today.

He repudiated all cases in which a Muslim sold land to a non-Muslim, even though in the Holy Land, Christians, Jews and Muslims have been buying and selling land there to each other for centuries. This has been going on from the time of Christ for the Christians and Jews, and the Muslims from the time of the founding of Islam in the 7th Century. Even Caliph Omar, the authority he cited, allowed and recognized sales of land to Christians and Jews and purchases from them. Rantisi and his followers have actually killed Palestinians who have sold land to Jews.

Generally after civil wars there have been extensive reprisals and trials of the winning side against the losing one. Lincoln was determined that this pattern not be followed as the bloody war was coming to an end. Ironically, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor and a Southerner, was, together with some of the Radical Republicans, in favor of trying many of the Southern leaders for treason and rebellion. Lincoln’s view however and that of the moderate members of Congress prevailed. However, the Southern Whites generally would not comply with the Constitutional Amendments and laws regarding the role of the Negro, and Johnson was very sympathetic to their racism which led to a conflict between Johnson and Congress.

Lee was trying to negotiate a peace treaty as a part of his his potential surrender. However, Grant would not be drawn into that, Lee was NOT the government of the Confederacy, and Grant had served with him earlier in the Mexican War and knew he was not a fanatic on teh subject of slavery and race as most of the Southern leaders were. They werenthe ones who would have to be captured or driven to surrender. Grant could have gotten authoirioty as he was in almost real time contact with President Lincoln by telegraph. However, neither wanted to negotiate peace with Lee. Instead, Grant gave Lee and his men incredibly gracious termsof surrender which he and Lincoln hoped would casue the avarage Southern soldiers to feel better about surrender for although Lee's was the largest Confederate Army, there were still others out there that had to be dealt with,

Note that the weak are not to be killed in a jihad UNLESS they “fight with words.” If a woman, child, invalid, older person says something that is interpreted as contrary to Islam, they too shall be killed along with all the males. The overriding principle is that anyone who interferes with the dominance of Islam, is to be killed.

While it is true that there is a powerful minority of Palestinians and Palestinian organizations—Hamas & Hezbollah, for example whose official position is that there must be no compromise with Israel and Jews must be killed unless they convert to Islam, there are ultra-orthodox, religious, Jewish groups who believe that all the land in dispute was given to the Jews by God and there can be no compromise. The majority of Israelis believe that there is no Palestinian leadership who can stand up to the powerful minorities. The majority of Palestinians believe that the Israeli governments will never stand up to thieir powerful minorities. The Israeli Prime Minister was trying to signal the Palestinians, that if they compromise, the Israelis will also, but neither side has a lot of credibility when it comes to land, borders, and religious identity and that is especially true of this Israeli Prime Minister, who many Israelis (and many Americans) doubt that he will compromise on the land and borders with all the Israeli settlers already inhabiting enclaves of what is, by every law (International, Israeli, and traditional Arab—with the exception of God’s law of the Old Testament—which agrees that the Israelis or the Jewish People do not have title to or control over the lands outside of Israel proper.

This is one of the fears of many Israelis—that a Palestinian state with a peace treaty—will just be an opportunity for the Arabs to gain strength and develop their capability to again try and destroy the Jewish state which they have tried to do ever few years until they are defeated and another truce is negotiated.