بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الإخوة الكرام السلام عليكم كما سبق أن أعلنت آنفا إليكم الحدث التاريخي لمعركة الزلاقة و لكن باللغة الإنجلزية و نظرا لطول النص تجدون طي هذا الإرسال الجزء الاول:
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IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE THE MERCIFUL
*THIS DAY IN HISTORY
*The 23rd of October 1086
*The Battle of Zallaqa
*Elapsed Time: 922 years.
It is worth recalling that during the eleventh century and due to the blatant weakness of the ruling Muslim Ta’ifa kingdoms or Party kingdoms who were only concerned with their ill-fated vested interests, and eager to maintain their thrones at any cost, paradoxically and at the same time Christian forces gained more lands from the disenchanted Muslim rulers, and in a desperate move to save what it could be saved, these rulers turned to Yusuf Ibn Tashfin the Ruler of the Al Mourabitoun or Almoravids of North Africa .
It all started in early 1086 when Mohamed Al Mu’tamid Ala Allah Ibn Abbad, the Ruler of Seville was severely harassed by AlphonsoVI or Alfonso the sixth king of Castile , Alfonso adopted the policy of playing off the Muslim princes against each other (a stance that is exactly relevant to our nowadays events) and then extract tribute from them to deter his intervention, this period was of course the period of the Taifa kings of Andalusia, each rivalling the other king or prince even if it was their fellow Muslim. Greed, worldly gains enthusiasm and lust of power would not deter some from even seeking the support of the Christian kings in Spain over their fellow Muslim brethren.
Soon Muslim towns began to fall to Alfonso, including the town of Toledo, Al Mu’tamid of Seville, was no exception to the rage of Alphonso, delay of payment of his tribute, followed by heated discussion between Al Mu’tamid and the messenger of Alphonso who came to collect the tribute, led to Al Mu’tamid to finally to lose his temper, later on some slaves attacked the camp of the messenger of Alphonso killing the entourage of the messenger, while sparing the messenger’s life.
Al-Mu'tamid was conscious of the gravity of his situation and foresaw its consequences, and so he wrote to Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, asking for his help and urging him to advance in jihad. The Muslim scholars and other important Andalusians did the same, as it was crystal clear that Al Mu’tamid knew for sure that Alphonso would not forgive him, nor even spare his kingdom, in this critical situation.
But the Andalusian princes as a whole had little sympathy with the chief of the
“barbarous and fanatical warriors” of the Sahara, regarding him more as a dangerous rival than an ally, But the daily increasing peril rendered it necessary to grasp the only remaining means of safety and keeping alive their thrones.
When Al Mu’tamid‘s eldest son, Rashid objected to the introduction of the Al Mourabitoun in Andalusia, and falsely pointed out the danger of such move, Al Mu’tamid had to say this to his son:
“I have no desire to be branded by my descendants as the man who delivered Andalusia a prey to the infidels; I am loath to have my name cursed in every Muslim pulpit; and for my part, I would rather be a camel-driver in Africa than a swineherd in Castile .”
Yusuf answered the call with no hesitation, being an example of a model, just, pious, Muslim governor, well loved by the scholars, and praised by the Great Imam Abu-Hamed Al Ghazali, rejecting the call of help by the Muslims in Andalusia would be nothing but treachery, the Commander of the Muslims hastened to grant his request, and said:
“I am the first to be entrusted to come to the assistance of this faith, and none other than I myself will take charge of the matter!”.
However, when Yusuf embarked for the first time, on Thursday the 03rd of July 1086, he raised his hands and called on Allah, saying:
“O Allah! If you know that my passage will be beneficial for the Muslims, then make it easy for me. If it is the opposite, then make it difficult for me so that I do not cross over.”
Yusuf had a good crossing as well as about 7,000 horsemen with a large number of infantry crossed the sea too with him, embarking at the town of Sebta (Ceuta) and landing at the town called Al-Jazirat Al Khadra or the green island (Algeciras).
Al Mu’tamid met him with the leading men of his state, and displayed more reverence and deference towards him than the Amir Al Muslimin had expected, at that time, Alfonso VI was giving siege to one of the Muslims’s castles, known as Al-Lit (Aledo), when he heard that the Muslims had crossed over, he abandoned the siege and returned to his own territories, mobilizing his army to meet the Mourabitoun.
Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, reviewed his troops at the fortress of Al-Raqqa, and liked what he saw of them. He said to Al-Mu’tamid: “Let's go on the Holy War that we came for, and attack the enemy.”, he began to grumble about staying in the Spanish Peninsula, and to long for Marrakech, and to belittle the power of Al-Andalus, he was forever saying: “We took the affairs of this Peninsula seriously until we saw it, and now that we have seen it, it has sunk
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