Rewriting History: Why Awaiting a New Salahudeen Is Dangerous

“When discussing the challenges and dangers facing Muslims today, researchers, preachers, and intellectuals often simply cite the victories of Salahudeen to demonstrate the Islamic response in facing such challenges and dangers.

Typically, they begin with a review of the Crusades and their accompanying atrocities. Then they jump half a century to discuss the military jihad movement led by the Zengids, then Salahudeen, culminating in the liberation of Jerusalem. However, such an approach is problematic as it implicitly suggests that all the Islamic nation requires in its struggles of today is to await a Muslim leader who, inspired with the spirit of military jihad, mobilizes the masses, and declares war.

This perspective is dangerous for the following key reasons:

1. Overlooking Internal Issues

This viewpoint diverts attention away from the problems that plague the body of the Islamic nation from within, which cause it to lag behind and be susceptible to defeat. It preoccupies the nation with symptoms rather than root causes. More worryingly, it requires the Islamic nation to go from being ailing within to victorious against external aggressors in one impossible step. The more realistic approach is to treat these internal weaknesses first. Once the nation is cured of its internal ailments, that once insurmountable step becomes feasible.

2. Overemphasis on Individual Leadership

The notion that we are simply waiting for a leader like Salahudeen prioritizes individual action over collective effort. It instills a flawed and misplaced concept of where responsibility resides. This effects both leaders and the general population. In the leader’s psyche, it fosters a spirit of individuality and exclusivity in planning and execution. They act impulsively, at odds with anyone who challenges their opinions or actions. Yet these leaders cannot succeed alone, ultimately resulting in their failure and frustration.

As for the nation at large, this mindset diminishes their role and their responsibility, erasing the concept of collective duty from their consciousness. They become overly reliant on their leadership to extract them from their quagmire. No matter how often they are called to sacrifice for the cause or participate, their response through their lack of action is (the response of the Israelites to Moses): “Go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here.” [Qur’an 5:24] No matter how often you remind them of their dire situation, they remain sluggish, waiting for a miracle and the appearance of their victorious hero. They paint mythical, legendary images of him, speculating about his identity and personality. “Perhaps he is the awaited Mahdi…perhaps he will arise from here…No, most certainly from there!”

3. Neglecting the Fact that Change is Generational

This notion lacks an appreciation of how the challenges of the present were a result of the past. And that the challenges of the future will be a result of the present. Each time has its own preparation and efforts to which it must dedicate itself, with the fruits reaped by later generations. When this understanding is not grasped, and only short term solutions are sought, generations fall into stagnation. The nation effectively rejects the natural running of time, falling into a deep coma and absence.

The Importance of This Study:

The historical sources that chronicle the events this book addresses, along with the cultural heritage and artifacts of the society that witnessed them, clearly show that Salahudeen was but a result from a revitalised generation. This generation underwent a transformative process,  reshaping people’s ideas, perceptions, values, traditions, and habits. It then placed individuals in roles suited to each one’s psychological, mental, and physical aptitudes and abilities. The effects of this change were reflected in the entire generation’s political, economic, social, and military reforms, guiding and directing them.

Those who led this change were people who lived through harsh events, endured the bitterness of the mistakes and deviations they inherited, and focused on transforming themselves and their societies first. They formed perspectives and strategies that integrated various fields and professions, highlighting the importance of all institutions allying together. They implemented this strategy in coordinated, carefully planned stages, culminating in mobilization of the Muslim armies. The success they achieved in jihad was directly proportional to the soundness of their strategies and their sincerity to Allah.

There is no doubt that examining the details of this societal transformation - both in the earlier period that paved the way for the Crusader invasion and the subsequent efforts to repel it, provides valuable lessons for our current predicament. It sheds light on the internal factors that weaken Muslim societies and which open the doors to external dangers that they are consequently assailed by.

This is what this analytical study of history aims for, to alert Muslims and their intellectual, political, social and educational leaders to the correct strategy in mobilizing efforts to face such challenges.”

- This is an extract from our upcoming publication in shaa Allah - “This is How the Generation of Salahudeen Appeared and Jerusalem Re-captured” by Dr Majid Arslan Al-Kilani.

Originally published on the Dhikr Substack.