Chapter 7 – The City of God
‘I want to be like Caliph Umar,’ said Saladin to his men:When his armies won all of Palestine in the early days of Islam, he took Jerusalem peacefully and entered the town like a poor man, on foot. The Patriarch Sophronius gave him the keys of the town after they made a peace agreement. It said that the Franks, their houses and churches were safe, and that they could pray in the way they wanted, and that no Muslim was going to hurt them or take their money. Then Umar visited the town with the Patriarch. When he saw that people used the Holy Mount in the middle of the town as a place for rubbish, he started to clean it with his own hands. Then he asked men to build what is now the Al-Aqsa Mosque there. After that, when he went with the Patriarch to see the church where they buried Jesus, it was time to pray. Umar left the church to pray outside. He said, ‘If I pray inside the church, then one day other Muslims will want to make it into a mosque!’ He was generous to all religions. ‘We agree that we don’t want to hurt people in the town. But the Franks fight to the last man!’ Saladin’s generals said. When Saladin met the Franks, he said, ‘I think – like you – that Jerusalem is the City of God. I don’t want to attack God’s home. So, if you surrender, then you will all be free to leave it with your things. Your churches will be safe, and when people want to make a pilgrimage to the holy places, they can travel freely into the town at any time.’ The Franks knew that they weren’t strong, but they said, ‘How can we give you the town where Jesus died? If we let you take Jerusalem without fighting, people will rightly say that we’re afraid to die for Jesus. We must do our best to hold it!’ ‘Then I’ll take Jerusalem by the sword, and many people will lose their lives!’ Saladin promised. The Franks’ commander was Balian of Ibelin, one of the very best of the Frankish knights. He fought bravely at Hattin, and after he escaped from the battle, he went to Saladin. He asked the Muslim commander, ‘Can I take my wife and children out of Jerusalem to Tyre where they will be safe? I promise that I’ll never carry my sword against you again, and that I’ll only stay one night in the town.’ Saladin said, ‘I’m sure that you’re worried about your wife in these difficult times. Go at once and get her. I know that you’ll keep your promise not to fight my men.’ But when Balian arrived in Jerusalem, all the people there said, ‘You must stay here and be our commander. How can we fight the Muslims without someone to tell us what to do?’ ‘I can’t! I gave my word to Saladin that I wouldn’t fight against him. I can’t break my promise,’ Balian replied. The men of the church said that it wasn’t wrong to break a promise to a Muslim, but Balian was a man of honour. He wrote to Saladin and said: The people of Jerusalem have asked for my help as their commander. What shall I do?
Saladin answered at once: You must help your people. Forget your promise to me. And don’t worry about your wife and children. I know that you cannot take care of them now. Fifty of my best men will take them safely to Tyre! Tears came to Balian’s eyes when he read Saladin’s answer. He thought, ‘Why aren’t our people as good as Saladin?’ Balian did his best to make the town ready for the siege, but there were only two other knights to help him. He said, ‘This city is full of people running away from the other towns in Palestine that the Muslims have taken.