Crusades Primary Sources | The Muslim Call to Arms

Excerpt from "Poem on the Crusades" (twelfth century)
Originally written by Abu l-Musaffar al-Abiwardi; Reprinted in Ibn al-Athir's The Perfect History; Edited by C. J. Tornberg; Published in 1851–1876

Excerpt from Book of the Maghrib (thirteenth century)
Originally written by Ibn Said; Reprinted in The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain; Translated by Pascuual de Gayangoss; Published in 1840

The Crusader invasion of 1096 to 1099 took the Muslims of the Middle East by surprise. Leaders of the Islamic world were busy with internal feuds and rivalries when the Christians arrived. The Seljuk Turks, who had established an empire in the Middle East, lost their strongest sultan, or leader, Malik-Shah, in 1092. With his death the Turks, who believed in sharing the...