# One Sultan vs. All of Europe — Counterattack | Ep. 9 | The Salahuddin Generation

**Author:** Dr. Hassan Elwan
**Series:** The Salahuddin Generation
**Published:** 2026-02-01
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/3Dd-w3O3kOA
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-9
**Topics:** History

## Description
Jerusalem was liberated. The ummah celebrated. But Salahuddin knew the truth — the real war was only beginning. Europe’s kings mobilized. Massive armies crossed land and sea. A counterattack unlike anything before was coming. Because victory does not end wars. It invites them.

## Chapters
- 0:00 Why Victory Triggers Counterattacks
- 2:30 Europe Declares the Third Crusade
- 5:10 The Siege of Tyre Begins
- 8:55 Winter War and Exhaustion
- 10:30 Salahuddin’s Greater Vision
- 12:10 The Siege of Acre Begins
- 19:45 Epidemic Spreads Through the Armies
- 21:10 Salahuddin Becomes Gravely Ill
- 28:00 The Egyptian Army Arrives
- 30:55 Barbarossa Enters the War

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Last time, we saw how Salahuddin and the generation of Salahuddin, throughout years of work, finally, the fruits of this hard work that started long time ago, is paying off. We saw how Salahuddin

**[0:21]** and his forces defeated the Franks in the great battle of Hattin, and that opened the doors in front of Salahuddin and he started capturing many cities and finally, he crowned this with liberating Jerusalem.

**[0:57]** Some people would say the story of Salahuddin, this is the end, here is our hero, he achieved his victory, the struggle paid off, good news, and let's go home and we're done. That is not the case. The biggest battles of Salahuddin, his biggest agonies, his biggest struggles,

**[1:14]** it's yet to come. Because after Salahuddin conquered Jerusalem, a new chapter, a new crusade is about to happen, what we call the principle of the counter-attack. When I'm fighting an opponent, what happens if I all of the sudden achieved victory, and

**[1:30]** I won, and I pushed my opponent back, and you know, and I won a major battle? Most of us sit down and say, hey, it's time to celebrate. What do you think my opponent will be doing? And similarly for Salahuddin, he realized very well what's going to happen. Now that

**[1:46]** Jerusalem fell to his hands, the crusaders and the Levant, they were not alone. They were supported by a superpower, Europe. Where through sea, they can get whatever reinforcements they need. They can get soldiers, they can get arms, they can get swords, they can get

**[2:01]** knights, they can get siege engines, they can get grains, they can get supplies, and Europe is big. And therefore, the Franks in the kingdom of Jerusalem, they're very, very well supported. And Salahuddin realized, he's not just fighting them, he's fighting

**[2:17]** against Europe. And Europe will retaliate. He needs to prepare for the counter-attack. And when the news of Jerusalem reached Europe, the Pope Urban III was so devastated, so grieved, it is said that he died out of a heart attack. The new pope, he announced the necessity of

**[2:34]** fighting back Salahuddin, and that they must attack and regain everything that they lost. And as such, he sent letters to all of the kings of Europe. And I'm speaking about powerful kings, the likes of Richard the Lionheart, Philippe Augustus of France, William II of

**[2:50]** Sicily, Frederick Barbarossa of Germany. And it is said all of the kings of Europe gathered together as the third crusade. And their destination is to attack Salahuddin, regain everything that Salahuddin gained. And they even sent letters to Salahuddin al-Ayyubi. And they

**[3:10]** told him, if you do not give us back Jerusalem and all the other cities that you took, we are going to come. And it's not going to be just Jerusalem. We will take everything out of your hand. All the kings are going to come your way. You're going to lose everything. Salahuddin did not compromise. And he sent a letter back. And he said the following,

**[3:30]** anyone who's going to set foot into this land, he's going to meet the fate of his brothers in Hattin. I am not afraid. If you come here, you're going to die here. No compromise. I'm giving nothing back. That was the tawakkul of Salahuddin. But nevertheless, he understood

**[3:47]** the concept of a counterattack. He understood what he's facing. That is why after he liberated Jerusalem and spent maybe four weeks, one month in Jerusalem, you know, worshipping and reestablishing the city, he immediately set out, gathered his troops, and he did two

**[4:04]** things. One thing that he did, all the cities on the coast must be fortified. And he started with the city of Akka. Why? The city of Tyre is still not in his hand. And if a counterattack comes, they'll probably land in the city of Tyre. The first city to the south on the way

**[4:20]** of Jerusalem is Akka. That is where the attack is going to happen. And therefore, he asks one of his top commanders, Baha al-Din Qaraqush, the one that built the citadel in Egypt, a man that knows how to fortify cities very well, he puts him in charge and asks him to

**[4:36]** fortify the city of Akka. And Baha al-Din Qaraqush spends his time and a lot of money and wealth and energy, and he fortifies the city of Akka in such a way that we will see the consequences of this. The second thing, the city of Tyre. So Salahuddin orders his troops to gather

**[4:56]** and attack the city of Tyre. But unfortunately, the time that Salahuddin has spent to open Jerusalem and take care of it, this more than a month, gave the people inside the city of Tyre time to fortify the city. The city now is well fortified. And it is said they dug

**[5:12]** trenches all the way surrounding the city. The city is like an island except for a very narrow piece of land. Any army attempting to attack Tyre has to go into that narrow piece of land. Also now the crusader ships from both sides can start throwing arrows and fire

**[5:28]** and bombard the Muslim army. And Conrad, this Italian knight that led the defenses, zealous, has really really ignited the passion and inspired steadfastness in all the hearts of the people defending Tyre. And how many people were defending Tyre? Guess what? All the people

**[5:45]** that Salahuddin freed. Where do you think they went? They went to the city of Tyre. So now the city has enough men, enough weapons. Now the supplies are coming from the sea from Europe and Conrad is there determined to fight. And a battle starts between the army of Salahuddin

**[6:04]** and the army of Conrad. And winter is approaching. And Ibn al-Athir narrates something. He said Salahuddin tries a trick. He brings forth an old man and asks Conrad to come on the walls for some discussion. What's going on? Well, that old man was Conrad's father.

**[6:22]** Salahuddin captured him. And he tells Conrad, I have your father. Give up the city. There is no need for more bloodshed. I'll let him go. If you don't, you see what will happen to your dad. To his surprise, Conrad comes up with a crossbow and shoots at his father

**[6:39]** and tells him the old man lived long enough. He might die if necessary. It is not a problem. Go ahead. Kill him. I do not care. I'm not going to deliver the city. What do you think Salahuddin did? Being Salahuddin, being with the heart that follows the Prophet (ﷺ), if you

**[6:57]** do not care about your father, it was just a bluff. Salahuddin releases Conrad's father. Go. The trick didn't work. And he starts attacking the city. Now, Salahuddin insisted that this city must fall to the Muslims. We cannot leave the city of Tyre. But something happened.

**[7:16]** One day it is said, the people, the boats decided to sleep. They usually are up at night, sometimes reading Quran, praying the night. But that night they were tired. And he said most of them fell asleep. The Franks was on the watch. They saw this. They attacked the

**[7:32]** Muslim ships. And a battle happened. And they were not ready. And unfortunately, the Muslims started losing a couple of their ships. And the rest of the ships started fleeing away. And Salahuddin realizes his fleet has been defeated at that point. And winter is coming.

**[7:48]** The Mediterranean Sea is getting turbulent. And Salahuddin has more ships. But winter time is not a good time for a naval battle. Also, the troops of Salahuddin starts asking him, you know what? We've been fighting for so long. Give us a break. And after winter,

**[8:04]** we promise to come back and we'll finish the city of Tyre off. It had been more than four months. And some of the soldiers used some fiqh issue against Salahuddin. They went and told him, you know, the Islamic law says that any woman whose her husband is away for

**[8:21]** four months, she has the right to divorce him. No, no, no, we need to go back. You know, it was just an excuse. And Salahuddin understood. The men are tired. Many of them wanted to go tend to their families. And anyway, it is winter time. And it's very difficult to

**[8:37]** fight in those conditions. So Salahuddin reluctantly agreed. While all men dispersed, Salahuddin retained his own regiment. And after a short visit to Damascus, he starts going back to attack different forts. Safad, Kawkab, and Ladhiqiyah. And he starts to liberate one after

**[8:56]** the other while everybody had a break. Salahuddin fought in winter time. And one can imagine how difficult that is. He had a serious mission. He understood what he's facing. And he understood the seriousness of this matter. And Salahuddin continued this effort. His teacher, the hadith

**[9:14]** scholar Ibn Shaddad says, I was with Salahuddin. It was winter time. And we were both on the walls of the city of Akka looking at the Mediterranean Sea. And the Mediterranean Sea was very rough. The waves were so high. And Ibn Shaddad said, it was my first time to see the sea this way.

**[9:32]** And it looked very scary, very turbulent. And then he said, I now change my fiqh opinion. I approved of the fiqh opinion that sailors, their witness and testimony in court should not be taken seriously. What is he speaking about? He's saying, after I saw the sea, anybody

**[9:50]** that sails in this, anybody that works in such kind of an environment, he must be out of his head. So therefore, if he comes to the court and testifies, maybe you should not take his testimony because he has to be crazy. Anybody that works in this is not in his right mind. So that's what Ibn Shaddad is saying. And he said, all of the sudden, the

**[10:07]** Sultan Salahuddin al-Ayyubi looks at him and says something very profound. He tells him, I find in my heart that whenever Allah enables me to open all the coastal cities and get done with the Franks here, I will put governors on all the city and take my fleet myself and

**[10:25]** go into that sea all the way to Europe to attack them till I open the whole Europe for Islam. Look at the himmah of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi. Look at his aspiration. Look at how big it is. It's like his dream is not just recovering Jerusalem and unifying the Muslims and it's

**[10:43]** done. No, no, no, no. I know our enemy is determined. I'm going to go after them because if I don't, they will come back. It's not over. And his goal is what? I don't stop. I go on and on. And Ibn Shaddad says, Sayyidi, you must be very brave. And then Salahuddin

**[11:00]** tells Ibn Shaddad something really interesting that tells you about the heart of Salahuddin. He tells him what is the most noble and honorable way to die. And Ibn Shaddad tells Salahuddin is to die for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Salahuddin looks down, tears

**[11:16]** coming from his eye. This is my utmost desire is to die in the service of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the most honorable way to die. This is the aspiration of Salahuddin. Now something surprising happened. While Salahuddin is in the midst of this, all the people that

**[11:35]** Salahuddin released, remember King Guy, the king of Jerusalem, the master of the Templars, all the people that he released and he asked them, do not fight against me. What do you think happened? They all gathered in the city of Tyre and they betrayed their promise.

**[11:52]** And they had gathered more than 30,000 and now supplies are coming from the sea and they started heading towards the city of Akka as Salahuddin predicted. He understands this is the start of the counterattack and he gathers his troops into one encounter, an epic encounter,

**[12:12]** one of the greatest battles of Salahuddin, the battle of Akka. The battle of Akka was not a battle that took a week, a month, it's a battle that took more than two years. Salahuddin on one hand, against the unified forces of Europe on the other hand. By the time Salahuddin reaches the city of

**[12:33]** Akka, the Franks, they already laid siege with his leader Baha al-Din Qaraqush inside. But alhamdulillah the city now is well fortified. Salahuddin calls the Egyptian fleet to come and try to relieve the city and protect the city from the sea and he starts gathering his troops telling them we have

**[12:50]** to attack as soon as possible. He used to start such kind of attacks on Friday morning. Why Friday? He would send to all the scholars, tell them about the news of what's happening and he told them the following, I'm about to attack the Franks around the city of Akka. I want everybody. On the Friday

**[13:09]** prayer, all the Muslims throughout his kingdom, everybody including in Mecca and Medina make du'a. Make du'a. He really believed in the power of du'a. So he ordered we start the attack on Friday and we start the attack when the people are praying the Friday prayers and I will ask everybody

**[13:28]** in my kingdom to join in this battle if not physically through their du'a. Can you imagine being in a Friday khutbah and sitting there and the imam is raising his hand and you know as you're raising your hand and making your du'a, your brothers are fighting to liberate and rescue

**[13:44]** your dear brothers and sisters from the clutches of the Franks and the crusaders. That du'a will be very powerful. And Salahuddin starts an attack. Spend the entire day all the way from noon time till maghrib time. A ferocious battle happened between the army of Salahuddin and the Franks

**[14:00]** around the city of Akka. He could not push them away. The city is still surrounded. Next day, Salahuddin announces we have to attack again and a pattern starts to happen. They pray fajr in jama'ah and they start to attack and nothing happens. The third day, Salahuddin reinforces

**[14:19]** Taqi al-Din, his nephew, this hero of Hattin and they switch tactics. Taqi al-Din decides to gather all his forces and instead of attacking at all fronts, he gathered his forces and attacked in one point only, by the beach. His idea was to make a bridge to reach the city and he attacks.

**[14:38]** A ferocious battle happened and by the grace of Allah, Taqi al-Din succeeds in pushing the Franks. Now they have a path and they have a way to go inside the city and now the army of Salahuddin inside the city of Akka can be resupplied. And they all start saying next day insha'Allah,

**[14:56]** we're going to start the attack. And this kept on and on for one week and the Franks could not be dislodged. And a pattern started to happen. The Muslims, they wake up in the morning, they pray salat al-fajr after salah, they gather their troops and then they attack the Franks

**[15:14]** all the way. The battle rages till maghrib when both parties rest. Next day, the Franks notice the pattern. Then they decided to do something. See, it is dangerous if one becomes predictable. Now they know the Muslims' plan, they always attack after salat al-fajr. The Franks decided

**[15:32]** to do something different. While the Muslims are praying salat al-fajr, they decided to do what? To attack first. While the Muslims are not prepared. And that's what happened. Al-Waq'ah al-Kubra, the great battle around Akka. And in that battle, as the Muslims were praying,

**[15:47]** the Franks gathered their knights, the Templars, the Hospitallers, you know, and charged against the Muslims. And it is said the Muslims were not prepared. And they started to fall back even more. And they concentrated their attack against Taqi al-Din. They wanted this

**[16:03]** breach that the Muslims did, you know, they wanted to get rid of it. When he saw them attack, he said that's a good opportunity. If I retreat and they keep following me, I can take them away from the city. Then we can surround them. So Taqi al-Din started retreating. Salahuddin in the center,

**[16:19]** looking at his right side, looking at Taqi al-Din, it appears that Taqi al-Din is defeated, he's running away. So Salahuddin took his elite warriors, they called them al-halaqah of Salahuddin, ordered them, go at once, support Taqi al-Din, give him aid.

**[16:34]** So that he stops their advance and the best of the troops of Salahuddin leaves his position, the center, goes to the right side to help Taqi al-Din. The Franks were monitoring this. They saw the elite warriors of Salahuddin leave. Now he's with some of the volunteers, soldiers from an area called Diyarbakir.

**[16:53]** And the Franks switched their tactic and they charged towards the position of Salahuddin himself. Now those volunteers, they were not as experienced as the warriors of Salahuddin. And they could not withstand the attack of the Templars and the Hospitallers, the knights of the Franks.

**[17:09]** And they started to fall back. And Salahuddin, with whatever men is left, started to order them and sound the drums and do not retreat. But they didn't hear and they started retreating. And the Franks started to follow. And it is said the Franks reached the tent of Salahuddin himself and killed some of the scholars there.

**[17:27]** And Ibn Shaddad narrates, being an eyewitness news, I was there, I saw the panic. And I saw Salahuddin fighting himself with arrows, flying around and ordering the drummers, trying to gather everybody around. And they started to retreat and it looked like it's going to be a defeat.

**[17:43]** Salahuddin now is retreating, the center is moving back, they're being crushed. But something saved the day. The people inside Akka, Baha al-Din Qaraqush, when he saw what's happening, ordered the doors of Akka to be open. They went out and attacked the rear of the army of the Franks.

**[18:02]** Now there is a gap. The knights are running after the center of Salahuddin. There is a gap between them and the infantry. And Sayf al-Din al-Mashtub al-Hakkari from the left and Taqi al-Din from the right, they surround the knights of the Franks. Salahuddin succeeds in putting a stand, gathers his people around him and moves forward.

**[18:21]** And a battle raged. And by Allah's grace, the tide turned. And it was a massacre. Ibn Shaddad narrates that he himself counted more than 10,000 of the Franks dead in this battle. The knights got completely decimated.

**[18:37]** It was a massive defeat for the Franks. And by Allah's grace, Allah saved Salahuddin and his brave men from such kind of a defeat. That battle called al-Waq'ah al-Kubra. It was a disaster for the Franks. And Salahuddin captured the master of the Templars.

**[18:55]** Remember the one that he released? He captured him again. And Salahuddin used to say about the Templars that هُمْ أَخْبَثْ أَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ Those are the worst of the people on this earth. لَا يَزَالُونَ يُعَادُونَ Their orders has such an animosity against the Muslims. It's almost, there is no hope in them.

**[19:11]** So he ordered that the master of the Templars be put to death. And Salahuddin gathers his army and gives a speech telling them, you are the only soldiers left in the land of Islam. And this is the enemy of Islam. And they came to your land and it is wajib.

**[19:27]** It's fiqhan by fiqh. It is our duty in front of Allah. We're the ones responsible to push them back. And then he tells them if we delay, if we choose not to act right now, their numbers will continue to increase. It will be more difficult. The more we wait, the more difficult it is.

**[19:44]** We have to act now. But what's going on? There is something that was causing his soldiers to kind of be reluctant to fight. What is it? 10,000 people dead. Summer. Heat. What do you think happens? All those bodies.

**[20:00]** An epidemic started to happen. And people started to fall sick. And as we said before, the epidemic affected the Franks more, much, much more than the Muslims. Why? Because of a simple fact. Hygiene and cleanliness. Muslims are clean. We eat with the right hand. We shake hands with the right hand.

**[20:16]** We clean ourselves with the left hand. We take a shower at least every Friday. And we said Salahuddin army had mobile bathrooms. They're clean people. The Franks, on the other hand, weren't this way. So the epidemic started spreading. And people on both sides started dying.

**[20:32]** And indeed, some of the commanders of Salahuddin themselves were starting to get sick. And that's why they were telling him, we have to leave. And Salahuddin insisted, we can't leave. We have to continue the fight. But something more serious happened. Some of the commanders of Salahuddin,

**[20:49]** the likes of al-Faqih Isa al-Hakkari, got sick. And indeed, al-Faqih Isa al-Hakkari dies in that epidemic. And Salahuddin loses one of his bravest knights. His right hand, as we said before. Faqih Isa al-Hakkari had such a profound effect

**[21:04]** on Salahuddin. A beautiful soul that was with him since the beginning. Since the very first days that he was the vizier of Egypt. Through the battle of Hattin. Through the liberation of Jerusalem. Now, he gives his life. He dies around Akka. It is said even one of the cousins of Salahuddin died.

**[21:22]** And surely enough, Salahuddin got sick. And people were really worried. The Sultan is sick. What will happen to Salahuddin? And they called the doctor of Salahuddin. Interestingly enough, do you know who the doctor of Salahuddin was?

**[21:37]** Maimonides. Maimonides is one of the most famous Jewish theologians that lived in the time. A Jewish theologian is the doctor of Salahuddin. We never, never were anti-Semitic. Salahuddin was not about,

**[21:53]** I'm anti-Christian or anti-Jew. No, no, that's not the case. Jews, Christians, Ismailis, Shia, Sunni, they can live in peace under him. And that was the spirit of Salahuddin. And he comes and he looks at Salahuddin

**[22:08]** and tells everybody, this is not a place to stay. The Sultan and everybody needs to leave else this epidemic is going to spread. It's going to be a disaster. And he tells Salahuddin that the only way to recover, they have to leave this place, go into a higher ground,

**[22:23]** you know, where the air is fresh. And Salahuddin was reluctant. And the commanders of Salahuddin come to him and they tell him, you know what? The Franks are tired too. They're exhausted. They've been defeated so many times on our hands. Many people died. And maybe it's because we're surrounding them.

**[22:40]** We're not giving them a chance to retreat. Maybe if we leave, maybe they will leave and head back to Tyre. And Salahuddin disagrees. And he predicts again what his enemy is going to do. And he tells them, I disagree. If we leave, I know those people, they're determined.

**[22:57]** They're not going to leave. They're going to sit in and they're going to entrench their positions. And it's going to be harder for us to attack them later. Nevertheless, the shura, the concession with everybody, everybody agreed that the army should leave.

**[23:12]** And Salahuddin orders his army to pull back so that everybody can recover. It is said he himself was seriously sick. Ibn Shaddad said he was laying on his bed and he was really, really unable even to sit straight. And in that very difficult time,

**[23:27]** Salahuddin is really concerned. There is an epidemic. There is war. And he's in this situation, a situation that Ibn Shaddad records, that tells us about the Sultan's heart. And I want you to look at this. This is who Salahuddin is. It is said that he orders one time

**[23:43]** in the midst of all this and concern and worry. He asks, can somebody get me some water, please? And one of the servants goes and it is said he got water and it was very hot. And he comes out and he trips and he spills the water on the Sultan, Salahuddin.

**[23:58]** And it is said the Sultan, of course, he's already sick. It's hot, very hot water. It was really painful. And everybody said, the man is going to get it. Can you imagine having a hard day at work and you're tired and you go back and your son messes up. What do we do to our children?

**[24:14]** Yeah, we take it out on them. And the man, this is the Sultan and he started something and Salahuddin looked up to him and smiled and said, can you make it colder, please? And the man was, alhamdulillah, you know, look at the clemency of the Sultan.

**[24:30]** And it's said he goes, comes back, ice cold water. You know, the Sultan is so forgiving. And guess what happened? He trips and he spills it again on the Sultan. People said the Sultan almost died, you know, hot water then cold water, he's sick. And people said, that's it.

**[24:45]** This man is, I mean, twice, he's going to get it. And the man started trembling. What, this is the Sultan, you know, what is he going to do? And Salahuddin looks up to him, smiles. And then he tells him the following, if you want to kill me, let me know

**[25:02]** and do it quickly, please. SubhanAllah. Look at his inner peace. Despite the situation, despite his anguish, despite his concern, despite him being sick, despite his pain, despite the mistake of this other person,

**[25:18]** he didn't even blame him. He used a technique that scholars of the time taught, the art of chivalry. One of the very, they say the first level of chivalry is what? Al-taghafful 'an al-zallah. That when somebody slips, you overlook their slip. You don't put them in a position, they have to apologize.

**[25:37]** And Salahuddin used humor to make that person laugh and everybody laugh. This is how the Sultan was. This is Salahuddin al-Ayyubi. This is his character. Something we want to learn, not only of his military victories, we want to see the beauty of this man

**[25:53]** and the beauty of the generation of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi and what they embodied of prophetic character. And nevertheless, now Salahuddin is worried because what he predicted happened. The Franks did not leave. They started digging trenches on both sides.

**[26:08]** One trench between them and the city of Akka and another trench between them and the forces of Salahuddin. So now they have trenches on both sides. The sand and soil they got out of the trench, they build a sand wall. Can you imagine? Why? If you throw trebuchets or arrows,

**[26:25]** they have a barrier of sand. So they fortified their position and now they're heavily entrenched. And now the army of the Franks, the ships are starting to arrive. Many of the people around Salahuddin, they said we were really concerned. And one of them said,

**[26:41]** I saw with my own eyes more than 70 Frankish ships arriving at the port of Akka. 70 ships. Every ship has how? Can you imagine the amount? And he said, I started to become anxious and I started to get worried.

**[26:56]** How are we going to encounter this? Al-Imad al-Isfahani says, our arrows will finish before the resupplies, you know. They had more men than we had arrows. And it's interesting the way he described it. He said, we fight one group. Next day, we find people dressed in a completely different way.

**[27:13]** What is he referring to? Those are newcomers. We fought the different countries of Europe and it went on and on. And al-Imad al-Isfahani said, I become worried. But when I look at the face of the Sultan with every single ship that arrived, I saw his peace of heart.

**[27:29]** I saw his determination. I saw his tawakkul. In that, it brought certitude to my own heart that with this, the Muslims will be victorious. Looking at Salahuddin and the firmness of his heart and his yaqeen in Allah, increased the certitude of his soldiers.

**[27:47]** That is who Salahuddin was. At this point, Salahuddin gathers his troops and gives a speech again. And he tells them that it's their duty to remove this enemy and they cannot let the city of Akka fall in their hands.

**[28:02]** And he orders the Egyptian fleet to come. And now we have battles in the sea and battle on the land and numerous battles are raging. And Salahuddin tells them, I have only one army that I did not call yet. The army of Egypt under his brother, al-Malik al-Adil.

**[28:18]** Now, the army of Egypt comes to the south part of the city of Akka, building their camp. But to their surprise, the Franks attacked the army of Egypt before they lay their camp down. And the army of Egypt started to fall back.

**[28:33]** And Salahuddin at the time was sick. And the news came to Salahuddin about what's happening. Ibn Shaddad narrates, he said, I saw him sitting in pain and all of the sudden he jumps up, puts his armor, runs, jumps on his horse.

**[28:48]** And Ibn Shaddad said, I was shocked. The man couldn't sit. What happened? Where did he get this energy from? And Salahuddin looks at him and tells him something, knowing what Ibn Shaddad is thinking. He says, yes. إِذَا رَكِبْتُ الْجِهَادَ زَالَ الْأَلَمُ حَتَّى أَعُودَ

**[29:04]** When the call for jihad and fighting for the sake of Allah is called, I run and I do not feel any pain till I come back. Allah removes my pain as long as I'm on my horseback and fighting. Once I come back, I feel it again. And he started to charge.

**[29:21]** His brother did something that's actually again, very interesting. Strategy. He noticed that, yes, the Muslim troops are retreating. He said, okay, I have an idea. Actually, retreat. Why? The soldiers had a marketplace.

**[29:36]** Again, remember like the soldiers of Salahuddin, very civilized. The army of Salahuddin, as we said, has bathrooms, a marketplace, a judge. So there is a marketplace. He told him, retreat, leave everything in the marketplace as it is. Because I know what they will do.

**[29:52]** Prediction. Prediction. He predicts his enemy. Strategy. And he retreated and he appeared to be defeated and the Franks were so happy. We defeated the army of Egypt. And then they entered the marketplace to find what? All the goods.

**[30:07]** Oh, all these valuable things unguarded. What do you think they did? They fell in the trap that was laid for them. He knew that they're going to drop their weapons, start gathering things, carrying it. The love of dunya can kill a person

**[30:24]** even in the battlefield. And that's what happened. And they started, every man for himself, everybody started to gather what they can. At that point, al-Malik al-Adil said to his troops, now attack them while they're busy with the booty of the life of this world. And the army of Egypt attacks

**[30:41]** and Salahuddin starts joining and the tide turns again and a major defeat happens to the Frank. And Allah grants victory to the army of Salahuddin. Meanwhile, some disturbing news came to Salahuddin.

**[30:57]** While he's fighting in Akka and the enemy is getting supplies and getting more troops on a daily basis and the number is swelling already around the city of Akka. News came to Salahuddin. The German army, the army of Frederick Barbarossa

**[31:12]** has just landed in Asia Minor. Tens of thousands on the march heading towards Salahuddin and the Seljuks, Qilij Arslan, could not face the army of Frederick Barbarossa. So he decided to call a truce and back up and show them the way to Salahuddin.

**[31:29]** Now, where are they going to head? To Akka or maybe they attack Sham? Maybe they attack Aleppo? Maybe they go to Mosul? And Salahuddin's all his commanders, they told him, Salahuddin, we don't have the resources. We either fight Akka

**[31:44]** or we retreat, leave Akka to its fate and maybe stop this campaign. And Salahuddin, seeing the situation, disagrees. And he said, we'll fight on both fronts. And he commands one of his top commanders, Taqi al-Din, take some of the best of the troops.

**[32:01]** Go ahead, lead a campaign. On your way, gather as many of the knights as you can and put an end to this German invasion. And we will be in Akka trying to put an end to the siege of the city of Akka. And Salahuddin sends letters

**[32:17]** asking everybody to help, announcing this is not the battle of Salahuddin. This is not a battle for Palestine. This is not a battle for Jerusalem. And he says, الكفر أعان الكفر Non-believers that used to fight each other, the Germans and the English and the French,

**[32:33]** they're enemies. But disbelievers aided disbelievers. ألا يعين الإسلام الإسلام Shouldn't Muslims aid to each other? And what do you think happened? Will Salahuddin get help from the Muslims to face this impossible encounter? Or will he be left alone?

**[32:50]** And if he is left alone, what can he do? That is what we're going to find out in our next episode.

**[33:09]** you

## Other Episodes in "The Salahuddin Generation"
- [SERIES FINALE: Salahuddin’s Legacy | Ep. 11 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-11.md)
- [The Man Who Outsmarted Salahuddin | Ep. 10 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-10.md)
- [The Victory That Reopened Jerusalem | Ep. 8 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-8.md)
- [The Plot to Dig the Prophet ﷺ’s Grave | Ep. 7 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-7.md)
- [Salahuddin’s Revolution Begins | Ep. 6 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-6-salahuddin-revolution-begins.md)
- [3,000 Riders to Egypt: An Impossible Mission | Ep. 5 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-5.md)
- [The Rise of Zengi | Ep. 4 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-4-the-rise-of-zengi.md)
- [How Imam Al-Ghazali Built A Generation | Ep. 3 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-3.md)
- [Why Jerusalem Fell in the First Crusade | Ep. 2 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-2.md)
- [The Rise of the Assassins | Ep. 1 | The Salahuddin Generation](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-episode-1.md)
- [The Salahuddin Generation: Knights and Scholars | OFFICIAL TRAILER](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-official-trailer.md)
- [The Salahuddin Generation – Official Teaser](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-salahuddin-generation/the-salahuddin-generation-series-official-teaser.md)