Why 4th of July Matters to Muslims

The 4th of July is a big deal for the Americans. However, just a few hundred years back, it was a date of celebration across the Muslim world, which was then near its peak.

Back in late 1095 AD a Pope named Urban II gave a sermon in the French city of Clermont earlier. In that sermon he put forth a call to arms to all Christendom to retake the “Holy Land” from the forces of Islam that had captured it several centuries earlier. With that, Urban launched, however unintentionally, the first step which was known as the First Crusade.

That Crusade found the Muslim forces, perceived in Europe as a unified entity, fractured and in some elements at war with itself. Truth be told, the European Catholics were pretty messed up too, just not as messed up, and that mattered. The result was a triumph, despite the logistic and political limitations of the ad-hoc First Crusade.

Let’s then flash forward to the 1170s and then after that to the Battle of Hattin.

The Muslim world, already divided by the schism between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, still had problems getting together decades after the Europeans established the “Kingdom of Jerusalem.” That is until the force of arms under a commander named Salah ad-Din (Saladin, Salah al-Din) managed to unify them under one banner.

Salah ad-Din was born into a Kurdish, Sunni military family.  He literally beat the majority of the Islamic World into shape, sometimes by negotiation, but when necessary, by the sword. He fought battles, killed men to achieve this unification. But, in the end, it was effective. For the first time since the Christians invaded more than decades before, the Muslims were a unified force under the direction of one man.

At this time now it was the Christians who were irrevocably divided. King Baldwin of Jerusalem had already died. He was only 24. The throne passed to the child of his sister, who died just a year later. The sister married a moron. That moron was handed the throne. His name was King Guy.

Among the nobles of this invasive “Christian” kingdom, some pragmatically sought peace and neutrality. However, various extreme factions such as the religious/fighting “brotherhoods” such as the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller, pursued purity at any cost. No negotiations with the Muslims, no treaties or peace, just attack, attack, attack. It was not a well thought-out prescription for a minority force far away from their own base. And then there were those who lived there, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem who combined this sort of rigidity with pure avarice.

The most extreme of them, a “noble” known as Count Reynard, took it to extremes. He was, for all intents and purposes, evil. On a regular basis he lied, cheated, robbed, and betrayed. He would sign treaties, just to get an advantage claiming that any treaty with the Muslims was moot, since they did not count. It was his transgressions against a whole host of different Islamic leaders and merchants that ultimately brought Saladin against “them.”

Reynard’s response when faced with an army that Saladin brought into “their” lands was attack, and damned be to the odds.

Saladin had actually been trying to lure the Europeans (roughly 15,000-20,000) to attack his force of about 30,000 men. Never before had the Muslims been able to muster such a large force in one place and he wanted to use it while he could. Water was to be his major weapon as he had one primary tactical dilemma: How was he to get an outnumbered force to leave their own base and meet him on an open battlefield? To this end he set out bait.

In late June Saladin crossed the Jordan River from the east and with his army took the city (though deliberately not the citadel) of Tiberius. It was an ancient Roman city located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, a “sea” in name only, as though it was the largest body of fresh water in the entire region, it was only a few miles across and long. But as a large body of water in a very dry land, the name “sea” stuck. One thing was clear -- the water was good for drinking.

Hearing of Saladin’s movements, his attack, and the fact that the castle had not yet fallen, the army of the Christians debated internally before the feckless King Guy. The wiser counsel recommended holding fast where they were, but the rash and the ideological insisted upon attacking, regardless of the odds. So on the morning of 3 July they left their own campground, heading towards Tiberius.

Their problem was that this summer was particularly dry, with the creeks dry and no source of water at all until they reached the Sea of Galilee. But to get to the water the Crusaders would have to pass through Saladin’s army, though it appears that they did not know that yet. This is because Saladin’s was an army he had largely kept concealed until the last moment.

To do this Saladin set up his own forces about five miles from the coast of the Sea of Galilee, and from Tiberius. There he kept most of the army on the ground below the last line of higher terrain from which one can see the sea. These heights along the route from Acre to Tiberius were known as the “Horns of Hattin.” Hugging this line of heights also meant that most of his men could not be seen by any long-range scouts..

Then he set about harassing the approach of the Crusaders. First he sent his men, his well watered cavalrymen it should be noted, around both flanks of the approaching Christian army as they moved west-to-east. This initial move was intended to cut off the Crusader’s line of retreat and slow their advance.

It worked.

Now the Crusaders could not fall back upon their own water supply, and within hours after starting the majority of the Crusaders had probably already consumed what water they had on hand. Remember, they set off thinking that they could be at the Sea of Galilee by mid-day or late afternoon. Harassed by Muslim cavalry along the whole route it took them more than twice as long as a normal march might on the same ground. Then, at dusk, they reached the Horns of Hattin, the last high-point before you reach the plains, and the fresh water of Galilee. They could see the water, just over five miles away. But now they could see something else, the main body of Saladin’s army, sitting just below them, between them and the sea.

The Crusader forces, mostly infantry it should be mentioned, paused. They needed water, and since Saladin had already sent that large blocking force around behind them to stop their escape should they try to retreat, their only route was forward. It was July, and things can get dry. At that point they were really dry. There had been no water resupply once they had left their original base, and now a force larger than their own was sitting smack-dab between them and any chance of getting a drink. After some initial desultory attempts, the Christians pitched camp on the hills for the night -- a long, thirsty night.

Saladin’s men, through his generalship, had water -- and that mattered.

Ultimately, confined to the “Horns of Hattin”, with water in sight but unattainable due to the encircling forces, the Crusaders were on their own horns. In the morning they began a series of desperate attempts to break out, to get to water. Some few escaped, most did not. Saladin added to their discomfort by hemming them in with the simple and obvious expedient of setting the tinder-dry grass surrounding them on fire. One by one the tents of the nobles went down, until only the great pavilion of King Guy remained.

The entire army, barring a few who broke out, was killed or captured before the end of that Fourth of July. Both the King and the nefarious Reynard became prisoners. Guy was spared; Reynard was executed by Saladin’s own hand.

Saladin would then move on, but July 4, 1187 set the stage for the recapture of the city of Jerusalem by the Muslims, as well as a reduction of most of their pocket-kingdom, and it is why that date matters to those attuned to Muslim history.