The HuffingtonPost ran piece about Saladin in response to Daesh-inspired attacks in Paris and San Bernadino at the end of last year that I believe is still pertinent to Muslim and infidels alike and perhaps others. It begins:
“The humanity and compassion of mankind are tested in times of uncertainty and fear.
“The attacks in Paris on November 13 and the shooting in San Bernardino on December 2 spread the brutality and sadism of ISIS to Western soil. It has never been clearer that action must be taken to destroy this terrorist group. ISIS follows a distorted version of Islam that is unrecognizable to nearly all of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. The West must differentiate between the peaceful Muslims living within and entering through its borders and the brutal members of ISIS. The need for nuance in religious identification during wartime recalls a figure in Islamic history that offers valuable lessons for these perilous times.
“Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (c. 1138-1193), popularly known in the West as Saladin, is a rare figure in Middle Eastern history that earned the respect of Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. He is primarily known for defeating the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin and recapturing Jerusalem in 1187. Like anybody, he had flaws, but history upholds him as a paragon of chivalry, compassion, and generosity. As the French Historian Rene Grousset said, “[Saladin’s] generosity, his piety, devoid of fanaticism… won him no less popularity in Frankish Syria than in the lands of Islam.” Saladin was a Muslim Sultan, but he is also a universal figure.”
Read the entire piece here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hasher-nisar/saladin-lessons_b_8704244.html
