Gaza II

Baghdad, August 1099.

Wearing no turban, his head shaved as a sign of mourning. the venerable qadi Abu sa'ad al-Harawi burst with a loud cry into the spacious diwan of the caliph al-Mustazhir Billah, a throng of companions, young and old, trailing in his wake. Noisily assenting to his every word, they, like him, offered the chilling spectacle of long beards and shaven skulls. A few of the court dignitaries tried to calm him, but al-Harawi swept them aside with brusque disdain, strode resolutely to the centre of the hall, and then, with the searing eloquence of a seasoned preacher declaiming from his pulpit, proceeded to lecture all those present, without regard to rank.
'How dare you slumber in the shade of complacent safety' he began' 'leading lives as frivolous as garden flowers, while your brothers in ash-sham* have no dwelling place save the saddles of camels and the bellies of vultures? Blood has been spilled! Beautiful young girls have been shamed, and must now hide their sweet faces in their hands! Shall the valorous Arabs resign themselves to insult, and the valiant Persians accept dishonour?'
"It was a speech that brought tears to many an eye and moved men's hearts" the Arab chroniclers would later write. The entire audience broke out in wails and lamentations. But al-Harawi had not come to elicit sobs.
'Man's meanest weapon', he shouted, 'is to shed tears when rapiers stir the coals of war.'


From; The crusades through Arab eyes, Amin Maalouf, 1984, London

*The original translation has the word Syria instead of ash-sham which in Arabic means current day Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Ground troups in Gaza (In swedish)