The following selections are proposed to acquaint you with Islamic society. The first selection is a passage from the Koran. The Koran is the chief text in Muslim religious literature--equivalent to the Christian New Testament. For the Muslim the Koran is sacred. It was given to Mohammad by God through an epiphanic angelic mouthpiece. (Akin to the "angel" that Jacob fought, which has later been interpreted as an epiphany of God). Mohammad's role in the producing the Koran was to copy down verbatim the words of God. This is different than the notion of divine inspiration held by most Christians--which is more akin to the idea that God's message is communicated through human intelligence and culture to other humans. Because of this verbatim inspiration, the Koran and its message is only truly authentic in Arabic.
Islam bound together a number of different peoples. This unity led to such empowerment that Islam spread westerly from the Arabian Peninsula across North Africa to East Africa and Spain and easterly through Persia across Northern India (modern Pakistan) into Southeast Asia. Muslim's thus brought together under one ideological umbrella (monotheism) the militarism of nomads, Arabic trade routes and skills, Persian administrative skills, the rich cultural traditions of each society, and Aristotlean, Hindi, and Persian science. International trade brought Islam to many regions of the world and the scientific prowess of Muslims who could draw on such varied and ancient scientific traditions encouraged Muslim exploreres to write travel literature that provided as good a description as possible of the the people and prospects of far-flung lands. The last two selections are from this literature.
It should be of interest that the Franks are the heirs to Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire. These are the folks perched on the threshold of producing the High Culture of Western Medieval Society (the gothic cathedral for instance). The Vikings were also great travelers and merchants, who would establish a trading fleet along the Baltic that would become the Hanseatic League and play a pivotal role in shaping business practices in the West and advancing European business organization. The Muslims, which Western Civilization likes to portray as barbaric, come to some not very subtle conclusions about who is and who is not civilized and I think you will find yourself in sympathy with them.
This might be a good time to explore such issues as: What kinds of attitudes can you attribute to Muslims based on these sources? What kinds of behaviors do they find repulsive and why? What can you tell about the Vikings and the Franks given these Muslim accounts? What is the relationship between Muslim prejudices, the accounts they write of other peoples, and the actual state of "civilization" of the peoples the describe? What aspects of these Muslim accounts are you willing to believe and why? What lessons can we learn from the Muslim experience in our effort to understand other cultures?
In The Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Glory be to him who made his servant go by night from the Sacred Temple to the farther Temple whose surroundings We have blessed, that We might show him some our Our signs. He alone hears all and observes All.
We gave Moses the Book and made it a guide for the Israelites, saying: "Take no other guardian than Myself. You are the descendants of those whom We carried in the Ark with Noah. He was a truly thankful servant."
In the Book We solemnly declared to the Israelites: "Twice you shall commit evil in the land. You shall become great transgressors."
And when the prophecy of your first transgression came to be fulfilled. We sent against you a formidable army which ravaged your land and carried out the punishment with which you had been threatened.
Then We granted you victory over them and multiplied your riches and your descendants, so that once again you became a numerous people. We said: "if you do good, it shall be to your own advantage; but if you do evil, you shall sin against your own souls."
And when the prophecy of your second transgression came to be fulfilled, We sent another army to afflict you and to enter the Temple as the former entered it before, utterly destroying all that they laid their hands on.
We said: "Your Lord may yet be merciful to you. If you again transgress, you shall again be scourged. We have made Hell a prison-house for the unbelievers."
This Koran will guide men to what which is most upright.
It promises the believers who do good works a rich reward, and threatens those who deny the life to come with a grievous scourge. Yet man prays for evil and fervently as he prays for good. Truly, man is ever impatient.
We made the night and the day twin marvels. We enshrouded the night with darkness and gave light to the day, so that you might seek the bounty of your Lord and learn to compute the seasons and the years. We have made all things manifestly plain to you.
The fate of each man We have bound about his neck. On the Day of Resurrection We shall confront him with a book spread wide open, saying: "Here is your book: read it. Enough for you this day that your own soul should call you to account."
He that seeks guidance shall be guided to his own advantage, but he that errs shall err at his own peril. No soul shall bear another’s burden . Nor do We punish a nation until We have sent forth an apostle to forewarn them.
When We resolve to destroy a city, We first give warning to those of its people who live in comfort. If they persist in sin, judgement is irrevocably passed, and We destroy it utterly.
How many generations have We cut down since Noah’s time!" Suffice it that your Lord is well aware of His servants’ sins and observes them all.
He that desires this fleeting life shall soon receive in it whatever We will for whomever We please. But then We have prepared Hell for him, where he will burn despised and helpless.
As for him that desires the life to come and strives for it as he ought to, being a true believer, his endeavors shall be rewarded by God.
On all- on these and those – We bestow the bounty of your Lord: none shall be denied the bounty of your Lord.
See how We have exalted some above others. Yet the life to come has greater honours and is more exalted.
Serve no other god besides God, lest you incur disgrace and ruin. Your Lord has enjoined you to worship none but Him, and to show kindness to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age in your dwelling, show them no sign of impatience, nor rebuke them; but speak to them kind words. Treat them with humility and tenderness and say "Lord, be merciful to them. The nursed me when I was an infant."
Your Lord best knows what is in your hearts; He knows if you are good. He will surely forgive those that turn to Him. Give to the near of kin their due, and also to the destitute and to the traveler in need. Do not squander your substance wastefully, for the wasteful are Satan’s brothers; and Satan is ever ungrateful to his Lord. But if, while waiting for your Lord’s bounty, you lack the means to assist them, then at least speak to them kindly.
Be neither miserly nor prodigal, for then you should either be reproached or be reduced to penury.
Your Lord gives abundantly to whom He will and sparingly to whom He pleases. He knows and observes His servants. You shall not kill your children for fear of want. We will provide for them and for you. To kill them is a great sin.
You shall not commit adultery, for it is foul and indecent.
You shall not kill any many whom God has forbidden you to kill, except for a just cause. If a man is slain unjustly, his heir shall be entitled to satisfaction. But let him not carry his vengeance too far, for his victim will in turn be assisted and avenged.
Do not interfere with the property of orphans except with the best of motives, until they reach maturity. Keep your promises; you are accountable for all that you promise.
Give full measure, when you measure, and weigh with evenscales. That is fair, and better in the end.
Do not follow what you do not know. Man’s eyes, ears, and heart- each of his senses shall be closely questioned.
Do not walk proudly on the earth. You cannot cleave the earth, nor can you rival the mountains in stature.
Evil is all this in the sight of your Lord, and odious.
These injunctions are but a part of the wisdom your Lord has inspired you with. Serve no other deity besides God, lest you should be cast into Hell, condemned and rejected.
What! Has you Lord blessed you with sons and Himself adopted daughters from among the angels? A monstrous blasphemy is that which you utter.
We have made plain Our revelations in this Koran so that the unbelievers may take warning. Yet is has only added to their aversion. Say: "If, as they affirm, there were other gods besides God, they would surely seek to dethrone Him."
Glory to Him! Exalted be He, high above their falsehoods!
The seven heaves, the earth, and all who dwell in them give glory to Him. All creatures celebrate His praises. Yet you cannot understand their praises. Benignant is He and forgiving.
When you recite the Koran, We place between y ou and those who deny the life to come a hidden barrier. We have cast veils over their hearts lest they understand it, and made them hard of hearing. When you make mention of your Lord alone in the Koran, they turn their backs with indignation.
We well know what they wish to hear when they listen to you, and what they say when they converse in private; when the wrongdoers declare: "The man you follow is surely bewitched."
Behold what epithets they bestow upon you. They have surely gone astray and cannot find the right path.
"What!" They say. "When we are turned to bones and dust, shall we be restored in a new creation?"
Say: "Whether you turn to stone or iron, or any other substance you may think unlikely to be given life."
They will ask: "Who will restore us?"
Say: "He that created you at first."
They will shake their heads at you and ask: "When will this be?"
Say: "It may be near at hand. On that day He will summon you all, and you shall answer Him with praises. You shall think that you have stayed away but for a little while."
Tell My servants to be courteous in their speech. Satan would sow discord among them; Satan is surely the sworn enemy of man.
Your Lord knows you best. He will show you mercy if He will, and punish you if He pleases.
We have not charged you to be their guardian. Your Lord is best aware of all who dwell in the heavens and the earth.
We have exalted some prophets above others. To David We gave the Psalms.
Say: "Pray if you will to those whom you deify besides Him. They cannot relieve your distress, nor can they change it.
Those to whom they pray, themselves seek to approach their Lord, vying with each other to be near Him. They crave for His mercy and fear His punishment; for you Lord’s punishment is to be feared indeed.
There is no nation but We shall destroy or sternly punish before the Day of Resurrection. That is decreed in the Eternal Book.
Nothing hinders us from giving signs except that the ancients disbelieved them. To Thamud We gave the she-camel as a visible sign, yet they laid violent hands on her. We give signs only by way of warning.
We have told you that your Lord encompasses mankind. We have made the vision which We showed you, as well as the tree cursed in the Koran, but a test for men’s faith. We seek to put fear in their hears, but their wickedness increases.
When We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam," they all prostrated themselves, except Satan, who replied: "Shall I bow to him whom You have made of clay? Do You see this being whom You have exalted above me? If You give me respite till the Day of Resurrection, I will exterminate all but a few of his descendants. "Begone!" said He. "Hell is your reward, and the reward of those that follow you. An ample reward it shall be. Rouse with your voice whomever you are able. Muster against them all your forces. Be their partner in their riches and in their offspring. Promises them what you will. (Satan promises them only to deceive them). But over My true servants you shall have no power. Your Lord will be their all-sufficient Guardian."
It is your Lord who drives for you the ships across the ocean, so that you may seek His bounty. Surely He is ever merciful towards you.
When at sea a misfortune befalls you, all but He of those to whom you pray forsake you; yet when He brings you safe to dry land you turn your backs upon Him. Truly, many is ever thankless.
Are you confident He will not cause the earth to cave in beneath you, or let loose a deadly sand-storm upon you? Then you shall find none to protect you.
Are you confident that when again you put to sea He will not smite you with a violent tempest and drown you for your thanklessness? Then you shall find none to help you.
We have bestowed blessings on Adam’s children and guided them by land and sea. We have provided them with good things and exalted them above many of Our creatures.
The day will surely come when We shall summon every nation with its apostle. Those who are given their books in their right hands will read their recorded doings, and shall not in the least be wronged. But those who have been blind in this life, shall be blind in the life to come and go farther astray.
They sought to entice you from Our revelations- they nearly did- hoping that you might invent some other scripture in Our name, and thus become their trusted friend.
Indeed, had We not strengthened you faith, you might have made some compromise with them and thus incurred a double punishment in this life and in the next. Then you should have found none to help you against Us.
They sought to provoke you- they nearly did- and thus drive you out of the land. Had they succeeded, they would have scarcely survived your departure.
Such was Our way with the apostles whom We sent before you. You shall find no change in Our way. Recite your prayers at sunset, at nightfall, and at dawn; the dawn prayer has its witnesses. Pray during the night as well; an additional duty, for the fulfillment of which your Lord may exalt you to an honourable station.
Say: "Lord, grant me a goodly entrance and a goodly exit, and sustain me with Your power."
Say: "Truth has come and Falsehood has been overthrown. Falsehood was bound to be discomfited."
That which We have revealed in the Koran is a balm and a blessing to true believers, though it adds nothing but ruin to the evil-doers.
When We bestow favours on man, he turns his back and holds aloof. But when evil befalls him, he grows despondent.
Say: "Each man behaves after his own fashion. But your Lord best knows who is best guided."
They put questions to you about the Spirit. Say: "The Spirit is at my Lord’s command. Little indeed is the knowledge vouchsafed to you."
If We pleased We could take away that which We have revealed to you: Then you should find none to pleade with Us on your behalf. But your Lord has shown you mercy. His goodness to you has been great indeed.
Say "If men and jinn combined to write the like of this Koran, they would surely fail to compose the like, though they helped one another as best they could."
We have set forth for men in this Koran all manner of arguments, yet most of them persist in unbelief. They say: "We will not believe you until you make a spring gush from the earth before our very eyes, or cause rivers to flow in a grove of palms and vines; until you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you have threatened to doom, or bring down God ad the angels in our midst; until you build a house of gold, or ascend to heaven; nor will be believe in your ascent until you have sent down for us a book which we can read."
Say: "Glory to my Lord!" Surely I am no more than an apostle made of flesh and blood."
Nothing prevents men from having faith when guidance is revealed to them but the excuse: "Can it be that God ahs sent a human being as an apostle?"
Say: "Had the earth been safe enough for angels to walk on, We would have sent down to them an angel from heaven as an apostle."
Say: "Sufficient is God as a judge between us. He knows and observes His servants."
Those whom God guides are rightly guided; but those whom He confounds shall find no friend besides Him. We shall gather them all on the Day of Resurrection, prostrate upon their faces, blind, dumb, and dear. Hell shall be their home: whenever its flame die down We will rekindle them into a greater fire.
Thus shall they be rewarded: because they disbelieved Our revelations and said; "When we are turned to bones and dust, shall we be restored in a new creation?"
Do they not see that God, who has created the heavens and the earth, has power to create their like? Their term He pre-ordained beyond all doubt. Yet the wrongdoers persist in unbelief.
Say: "Had you possessed the treasures of my Lord’s mercy, you would have covetously hoarded them. How niggardly is man!"
Pharoah said to him: "Moses, I can see that you are bewitched."
"You know full well," he replied, "that none but the Lord of heavens and the earth ahs revealed these visible signs. Indeed, Pharaoh, I can see that you are doomed."
He sought to scare them out of the land: but We drowned him, together with all who were with him. Then We said to the Israelites: "Dwell in the land. When the promise of the hereafter comes to be fulfilled, We shall assemble you all together."
We have revealed the Koran with the Truth, and with the Truth it has come down. We have sent you forth only to proclaim good news and to give warning.
We have divided the Koran into sections so that you may recite it to the people with deliberation. We have imparted it by gradual revelation.
Say: " It is for you to believe in it or to deny it. Those who were endowed with knowledge before its revelation prostrate themselves when it is recited an say: "Glorious is our Lord. Our Lord’s promise has surely been fulfilled." They fall down upon their faces, weeping; and as they listen their humility increases."
Say: "You may call on God or you may call on the Merciful: by whatever name you call on Him, His are the most gracious names."
Pray neither with too loud a voice nor in silence, but, between these extremes, seek a middle course. Say: "Praise be to God who has never begotten a son; who has no partner in Kingdom; who need none to defend Him from humiliation." Proclaim His greatness.
In 921, Al-Muktadir, the Caliph of Baghdad, sent his ambassador, Ahmed ibn Fadlan, to the King of Bulgaria to arrange for the sending of Muslim missionaries to Bulgaria. Ahmed ibn Fadlan's roundabout journey, north from Baghdad and then west to Bulgaria, took him through southeastern Russia where, near the Volga River in 922, he encountered a Viking settlement and recorded these impressions of the "Northmen."
They are the filthiest race that God ever created. They do not wipe themselves after going to stool, nor wash themselves after a nocturnal pollution, any more than if they were wild asses.
They come from their own country, anchor their ships in the Volga, which is a great river, and build large wooden houses on its banks. In every such house there live ten or twenty, more or fewer. Each man has a couch, where he sits with the beautiful girls he has for sale. Here he is as likely as not to enjoy one of them while a friend looks on. At times several of them will be thus engaged at the same moment, each in full view of the others. Now and again a merchant will resort to a house to purchase a girl, and find her master thus embracing her, and not giving over until he has full had his will.
Every morning a girl comes and brings a tub of water, and places it before her master. In this he proceeds to wash his face and hands, and then his hair, combing it out over the vessel. Thereupon he blows his nose, and spits into the tub, and leaving no dirt behind, conveys it all into this water. When he has finished, the girl carries the tub to the man next to him, who does the same. Thus she continues carrying the tub from one to another till each of those who are in the house has blown his nose and spit into the tub, and washed his face and hair...
I was told that the least of what they do for their chiefs when they die, is to consume them with fire. When I was finally informed of the death of one of their magnates, I sought to witness what befell. First they laid him in his grave-over which a roof was erected-for the space of ten days, until they had completed the cutting and sewing of his clothes. In the case of a poor man, however, they merely build for him a boat, in which they place him, and consume it with fire. At the death of a rich man, they bring together his goods, and divide them into three parts. The first of these is for his family; the second is expended for the garments they make; and with the third they purchase strong drink, against the day when the girl resigns herself to death, and is burned with her master. To the use of wine they abandon themselves in mad fashion, drinking it day and night; and not seldom does one die with the cup in his hand.
When one of their chiefs dies, his family asks his girls and pages, "Which one of you will die with him?" Then one of them answers, "I." From the time that he utters this word, he is no longer free: should he wish to draw back, he is not permitted. For the most part, however, it is the girls that offer themselves. So, when the man of whom I spoke had died, they asked his girls, "Who will die with him?" One of them answered, "I." She was then committed to two girls, who were to keep watch over her, accompany her wherever she went, and even, on occasion, wash her feet. The people now began to occupy themselves with the dead man-to cut out the clothes for him, and to prepare whatever else was needful. During the whole of this period, the girl gave herself over to drinking and singing, and was cheerful and gay.
When the day was now come that the dead man and the girl were to be committed to the flames, I went to the river in which his ship lay, but found that it had already been drawn ashore. Four comer-blocks of birch and other woods had been placed in position for it, while around were stationed large wooden figures in the semblance of human beings. Thereupon the ship was brought up, and placed on the timbers above-mentioned. In the meantime the people began to walk to and fro, uttering words which I did not understand. The dead man, meanwhile, lay at a distance in his grave, from which they had not yet removed him. Next they brought a couch, placed it in the ship, and covered it with Greek cloth of gold, wadded and quilted, with pillows of the same material. There came an old crone, whom they call the angel of death, and spread the articles mentioned on the couch. It was she who attended to the sewing of the garments, and to all the equipment; it was she, also, who was to slay the girl. I saw her; she was dark, thick-set, with a lowering countenance.
When they came to the grave, they removed the earth from the wooden roof, set the latter aside, and drew out the dead man in the loose wrapper in which he had died. Then I saw that he had turned quite black, by reason of the coldness of that country. Near him in the grave they had placed strong drink, fruits, and a lute; and these they now took out. Except for his colour, the dead man had not changed. They now clothed him in drawers, leggings, boots, and a kurtak and chaftan of cloth of gold, with golden buttons, placing on his head a cap made of cloth of gold, trimmed with sable. Then they carried him into a tent placed in the ship, seated him on the wadded and quilted covering, supported him with the pillows, and, bringing strong drink, fruits, and basil, placed them all beside him. Then they brought a dog, which they cut in two, and threw into the ship; laid all his weapons beside him; and led up two horses, which they chased until they were dripping with sweat, whereupon they cut them in pieces with their swords, and threw the flesh into the ship. Two oxen were then brought forward, cut in pieces, and flung into the ship. Finally they brought a cock and a hen, killed them, and threw them in also.
The girl who had devoted herself to death meanwhile walked to and fro, entering one after another of the tents which they had there. The occupant of each tent lay with her, saying, "Tell your master, 'I [the man] did this only for love of you."'
When it was now Friday afternoon, they led the girl to an object which they had constructed, and which looked like the framework of a door. She then placed her feet on the extended hands of the men, was raised up above the framework, and uttered something in her language, whereupon they let her down. Then again they raised her, and she did as at first. Once more they let her down, and then lifted her a third time, while she did as at the previous times. They then handed her a hen, whose head she cut off and threw away; but the hen itself they cast into the ship. I inquired of the interpreter what it was that she had done. He replied: "The first time she said, 'Lo, I see here my father and mother'; the second time, 'Lo, now I see all my deceased relatives sitting'; the third time, 'Lo, there is my master, who is sitting in Paradise. Paradise is so beautiful, so green. With him are his men and boys. He calls me, so bring me to him."' Then they led her away to the ship.
Here she took off her two bracelets, and gave them to the old woman who was called the angel of death, and who was to murder her. She also drew off her two anklets, and passed them to the two serving-maids, who were the daughters of the so-called angel of death. Then they lifted her into the ship, but did not yet admit her to the tent. Now men came up with shields and staves, and handed her a cup of strong drink. This she took, sang over it, and emptied it. "With this," so the interpreter told me, "she is taking leave of those who are dear to her." Then another cup was handed her, which she also took, and began a lengthy song. The crone admonished her to drain the cup without lingering, and to enter the tent where her master lay. By this time, as it seemed to me, the girl had become dazed; she made as though she would enter the tent, and had brought her head forward between the tent and the ship, when the hag seized her by the head, and dragged her in. At this moment the men began to beat upon their shields with the staves, in order to drown the noise of her outcries, which might have terrified the other girls, and deterred them from seeking death with their masters in the future. Then six men followed into the tent, and each and every one had carnal companionship with her. Then they laid her down by her master's side, while two of the men seized her by the feet, and two by the hands. The old woman known as the angel of death now knotted a rope around her neck, and handed the ends to two of the men to pull. Then with a broad-bladed dagger she smote her between the ribs, and drew the blade forth, while the two men strangled her with the rope till she died.
The next of kin to the dead man now drew near, and, taking a piece of wood, lighted it, and walked backwards towards the ship, holding the stick in one hand, with the other placed upon his buttocks (he being naked), until the wood which had been piled under the ship was ignited. Then the others came up with staves and firewood, each one carrying a stick already lighted at the upper end, and threw it all on the pyre. The pile was soon aflame, then the ship, finally the tent, the man, and the girl, and everything else in the ship. A terrible storm began to blow up, and this intensified the flames, and gave wings to the blaze.
At my side stood one of the Northmen, and I heard him talking with the interpreter, who stood near him. I asked the interpreter what the Northman had said, and received this answer: "You Arabs," he said, "must be a stupid set! You take him who is to you the most revered and beloved of men, and cast him into the ground, to be devoured by creeping things and worms. We, on the other hand, burn him in a twinkling, so that he instantly, without a moment's delay enters into Paradise." At this he burst out into uncontrollable laughter, and then continued: "It is the love of the Master [God] that causes the wind to blow and snatch him away in an instant." And, in very truth, before an hour had passed, ship, wood, and girl had, with the man, turned to ashes.
From Albert Stanburrough Cook, "Ibn Fadlan's Account of Scandinavian Merchants on the Volga in 922," Journal of English and Germanic Philology 22(1923):54-63.
By the mid-tenth century, the once mighty Abbasid caliphs [the head of state] of Baghdad were puppets of their own bodyguards. About a century later, Turkish nomads, the Seljuks, who had come from central Asia into Iran and had converted to Islam, rescued the caliphs. These Seljuk sultans slowly extended their political power from Iran-Iraq through Syria and Palestine. In 1071, the Byzantine emperor, Romanus IV Diogenes, tried to stop Seljuk raids into Anatolia (modern Turkey), but he was defeated at Manzikert. The Seljuks soon took over most of Anatolia from the Byzantine government.
Soon, however, the Seljuk sultanate broke up into quarreling petty states. This situation, plus appeals from the Byzantines and the Seljuk restrictions on the number of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, led Pope Urban 11 in 1095 to call for the First Crusade (1096-1099). The Crusaders, or Franks, as Muslim authors refer to them, were able to create a series of western states along the Mediterranean coast from Anatolia to Egypt. These states did not last. The Turkish lord of Mosul, Zangi, and the Kurdish warrior Saladin became the anti-Crusading champions as they recaptured northern Syria and then Jerusalem by 1187.
One Arab-Syrian who lived through this period was Usamah Ibn Munqidh. He was born in 1095 to one of the most important families of the area who controlled the Castle of Shayzar on the Orontes river, which guarded routes into northern Syria or south into Lebanon. Usamah was given such a well-rounded education by his father that he not only gained military fame in fighting the Franks but was also considered a world traveler, poet, and scholar. His fame was so great that Saladin appointed him a lecturer on Islamic law and tutor in rhetoric in one of the academies in Damascus.
The following selections from Usamah's Memoirs relate a personal view of the Franks. Although the Crusaders are referred to as "devils" or 'infidels" whose morals were both shocking or amusing to a conservative Muslim, Usamah developed a friendship with and respect for some of the Christians.
Their curious medication. A case illustrating their curious medicine is the following:
The lord of al-Munaytirahl wrote to my uncle asking him to dispatch a physician to treat certain sick persons among his people. My uncle sent him a Christian physician named Thabit. Thabit was absent but ten days when he returned. So we said to him, "How quickly hast thou healed thy patients!" He said:
They brought before me a knight in whose leg an abscess had grown; and a woman afflicted with imbecility. 2 To the knight I applied a small poultice until the abscess opened and became well; and the woman I put on diet and made her humor wet. Then a Frankish physician came to them and said, "This man knows nothing about treating them." He then said to the knight, "Which wouldst thou prefer, living with one leg or dying with two?" The latter replied, "Living with one leg." The physician said, "Bring me a strong knight and a sharp ax." A knight came with the ax. And I was standing by. Then the physician laid the leg of the patient on a block of wood and bade the knight strike his leg with the ax and chop it off at one blow. Accordingly he struck it-while I was looking on-one blow, but the leg was not severed. He dealt another blow, upon which the marrow of the leg flowed out and the patient died on the spot. He then examined the woman and said, "This is a woman in whose head there is a devil which has possessed her. Shave off her hair." Accordingly they shaved it off and the woman began once more to eat their ordinary diet-garlic and mustard. Her imbecility took a turn for the worse. The physician then said, "The devil has penetrated through her head." He therefore took a razor, made a deep cruciform [cross-shaped] incision on it, peeled off the skin at the middle of the incision until the bone of the skull was exposed and rubbed it with salt. The woman also expired instantly. Thereupon I asked them whether my services were needed any longer, and when they replied in the negative I returned home, having learned of their medicine what I knew not before.
Newly arrived Franks are especially rough: One insists that Usamah should pray eastward. Everyone who is a fresh emigrant from the Frankish lands is ruder in character than those who have become acclimatized and have held long association with the Moslems. Here is an illustration of their rude character.
Whenever I visited Jerusalem I always entered the Aqba Mosque, beside which stood a small mosque which the Franks had converted into a church. When I used to enter the Aqba Mosque, which was occupied by the Templars, who were my friends, the Templars would evacuate the little adjoining mosque so that I might pray in it. One day I entered this mosque, repeated the first formula, "Allah is great," and stood up in the act of praying, upon which one of the Franks rushed on me, got hold of me and turned my face eastward saying, "This is the way thou shouldst pray!" A group of Templars hastened to him, seized him and repelled him from me. I resumed my prayer. The same man, while the others were otherwise busy, rushed once more on me and turned my face eastward, saying, "This is the way thou shouldst pray!" The Templars again came in to him and expelled him. They apologized to me, saying, "This is a stranger who has only recently arrived from the land of the Franks and he has never before seen anyone praying except eastward." Thereupon I said to myself, "I have had enough prayer." So I went out and have ever been surprised at the conduct of this devil of a man, at the change in the color of his face, his trembling and his sentiment at the sight of one praying towards the qiblah.'
Another wants to show to a Moslem God as a child. I saw one of the Franks come to al-Amir [chieftain] Mu'in-al-Din (may Allah's mercy rest upon his soul!) when he was in the Dome of the Rock' and say to him, "Dost thou want to see God as a child?" Mu'inal-Din said, "Yes." The Frank walked ahead of us until he showed us the picture of Mary with Christ (may peace be upon him!) as an infant in her lap. He then said, "This is God as a child." But Allah is exalted far above what the infidels say about him!
Franks lack jealousy in sex affairs. The Franks are void of all zeal andjealousy. One of them may be walking along with his wife. He meets another man who takes the wife by the hand and steps aside to converse with her while the husband is standing on one side waiting for his wife to conclude the conversation. If she lingers too long for him, he leaves her alone with the conversant and goes away....
We had with us a bath-keeper named Salim, originally an inhabitant of al-Ma'arrah, who had charge of the bath of my father (may Allah's mercy rest upon his soul!). This man related the following story:
Consider now this great contradiction! They have neither jealousy nor zeal but they have great courage, although courage is nothing but the product of zeal and of ambition to be above ill repute.
Their judicial trials: A duel. I attended one day a duel in Nablus between two Franks. The reason for this was that certain Moslem thieves took by surprise one of the villages of Nablus. One of the peasants of that village was charged with having acted as guide for the thieves when they fell upon the village. So he fled away. The kings sent and arrested his children. The peasant thereupon came back to the king and said, "Let justice be done in my case. I challenge to a duel the man who claimed that I guided the thieves to the village." The king then said to the tenant who held the village in fief, "Bring forth someone to fight the duel with him." The tenant went to his village, where a blacksmith lived, took hold of him and ordered him to fight the duel. The tenant became thus sure of the safety of his own peasants, none of whom would be killed and his estate ruined.
I saw this blacksmith. He was a physically strong young man, but his heart failed him. He would walk a few steps and then sit down and ask for a drink. The one who had made the challenge was an old man, but he was strong in spirit and he would rub the nail of his thumb against that of the forefinger in defiance, as if he was not worrying over the duel. Then came the viscount, i.e., the seignior of the town, and gave each one of the two contestants a cudgel and a shield and arranged the people in a circle around them.
The two met. The old man would press the blacksmith backward until he would get him as far as the circle, then he would come back to the middle of the arena. They went on exchanging blows until they looked like pillars smeared with blood. The contest was prolonged and the viscount began to urge them to hurry, saying, "Hurry on." The fact that the smith was given to the use of the hammer proved now of great advantage to him. The old man was wom out and the smith gave him a blow which made him fall. His cudgel fell under his back. The smith knelt down over him and tried to stick his fingers into the eyes of his adversary, but could not do it because of the great quantity of blood flowing out. Then he rose up and hit his head with the cudgel until he killed him. They then fastened a rope around the neck of the dead person, dragged him away and hanged him. The lord who brought the smith now came, gave the smith his own mantle, made him mount the horse behind him and rode off with him. This case illustrates the kind of jurisprudence and legal decisions the Franks have-may Allah's curse be upon them!
Ordeal by water-I once went in the company of al-Amir Mu'in-al-Din (may Allah's mercy rest upon his soul!) to Jerusalem. We stopped at Ndblus. There a blind man, a Moslem, who was still young and was well dressed, presented himself before al-amir carrying fruits for him and asked permission to be admitted into his service in Damascus. The amir consented. I inquired about this man and was informed that his mother had been married to a Frank whom she had killed. Her son used to practice ruses against the Frankish pilgrims and cooperate with his mother in assassinating them. They finally brought charges against him and tried his case according to the Frankish way of procedure.
They installed a huge cask and filled it with water. Across it they set a board of wood. They then bound the arms of the man charged with the act, tied a rope around his shoulders and dropped him into the cask, their idea being that in case he was innocent, he would sink in the water and they would then lift him up with the rope so that he might not die in the water; and in case he was guilty, he would not sink in the water. This man did his best to sink when they dropped him into the water, but he could not do it. So he had to submit to their sentence against him-may Allah's curse be upon them! They pierced his eyeballs with red-hot awls [drills].
From An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades, Memoirs of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh. Copyright 9) 1929 by Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.