Destiny and God’s pre-ordainment work in astonishing and subtle ways, in the history of mankind. The rise and fall of men, nations, and empires occur so astonishingly that poetry and prose do not even begin to describe truly the dramatic changes and the small details that, together, bring about these amazing events. What is even more immensely amazing is the repetition of these Divinely written events. The rise of powers in the West has usually occurred while unity disintegrated in the East. Jerusalem always lay in the hands of the stronger nation. Tyrannical ruling entities were replaced by those which garnered popular support.
The Arab Spring is no exception to the pattern of history. Nor are the contextual events an exception. Perhaps the only difference between the Arab Spring and the events that occurred in the Middle East during the 11th and 12th centuries was the technology used, the methods of governing, and the names of the factions and characters that took part.
Prior to the arrival of Frankish knights on the shores of the Anatolian peninsula; the Muslim world was a fragmented group of factions fighting over land, power, and influence. The Fatimids (pronounced Fatimiyeen in Arabic), with their power base in Egypt, have been in a seemingly eternal conflict with the Abbasids (pronounced Abassiyeen in Arabic), with a power base in Baghdad. Losing ground and power, the Abbasids sought support from the Seljuk Turks, who had recently arrived from the steppes of what is today known as northern Kazakhstan.
Along the borderline between the two warring Muslim powers then (the Fatamids and the Seljuk-Abbasid alliance) ruled a number of weaker emirs, who took up sides when and where they saw fit.
Europe, then, also suffered from internal wars, with kings battling also over land, power, and influence. Yet the Catholic papacy found a temporary cure to the internal quarrels. Pope Urban II called for a crusade to conquer the Levant. Blood was spilled along the path of the crusading generals. Towns and villages were conquered, looted or burned. Approximately 4 years after Pope Urban’s call to arms, Jerusalem was lost to the crusading Frankish knights in 1099. By then, the Crusaders controlled southeastern Anatolia, Edessa, the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean, and Jerusalem. Jerusalem would be liberated 88 years later, and the remaining occupied lands would be liberated after 2 centuries of war.
Internal political and violent strife continued between Muslim warlords, emirs, sultans, and caliphs even after the fall of Jerusalem. The crusader kingdoms flourished and expanded, threatening Damascus and Egypt on numerous occasions.
The world renowned general, Saladin, liberated Jerusalem in 1187. Saladin did not miraculously appear on the world stage, nor did he miraculously unite Greater Syria with Egypt, nor did he miraculously conquer Jerusalem. The Muslim world’s leaders had to change to fit to the new challenges they faced; change takes time.
Prior to Saladin’s arrival on the political stage, other emires took the first steps in attempting to unify the Muslim world, even if force was the only means available. Imad ElDin Zanki paved the way for his son, Nur AlDin, and for Saladin to bring about the unity and strength that was needed liberate the lands.
Imad ElDin dealt great blows to the petty warlords that littered the Levant, and managed to gain much ground against the Frankish crusaders. In 1144, one of the crusader kingdoms, the County of Edessa fell to him after forcefully uniting Aleppo and Mosul under his rule.
The Fatimids, then, faced immense political strife, exiles, assassinations, and executions befell viziers, emirs, and sultans alike. One vizier, Shawir, sought and effortlessly plotted to gain authority over Egypt. Promising influence and wealth, Shawir asked Nur AlDin for his support to establish him as the practical sovereign of Egypt. Nur AdDin sent one of the greatest generals of his time, Asad Adin Sherikoh, to his aid. It was then that Saladin, Asad Adin’s nephew emerged on the political stage of the Middle East.
After successfully achieving his goals, Shawir wrote to the Franks, beseeching their support in ridding Egypt of Nur AlDin’s influence, and promised them wealth and a share of the land. Sherikoh and Saladin managed to push back and defeat the Frankish-Shawir alliance.
With Shawir, defeated, Nur AlDin appointed Saladin as his man in Cairo. After the death of the old and ailing Fatimid caliph, and with only a child as the sole heir to the throne, Saladin declared the end of the Fatimid reign on Egypt. Syria and Egypt were united under Nur AlDin’s banner.
In 1948, a population of European Jewish immigrants to Palestine announced the founding of the Zionist state of Israel. Prior to that date, British officer T.E. Lawrence supported Arab rebellions against the Ottoman Caliphate. The secular Kemal Ataturk staged a coup and declared the abolishment of the Ottoman Caliphate and the Sykes-Picot agreement resulted in the establishment of numerous divided Arab nations. After the occupation of Palestine in 1948, Egypt and Jordan lost their protectorates of Gaza and the West Bank after the war of 1967 along with the Sinai, Iraq was occupied by the United States, and Sudan split into two nations. Numerous wars, both major and petty, broke out between various Muslim and Arab entities and factions over the years.
Yet, as Divine Pre-Ordainment brought back life to the Muslim world in the mid 12th century, the Arab Spring revived the spirits of liberty and freedom to the Muslim world. With Egypt battling internal political strife, and with the Syrians resisting brutal oppression and fighting to build a new Middle East, it becomes difficult not to draw similarities between the events we currently witness, and the events of the past. When such similarities are drawn, understanding the events and their context becomes a simpler task, and it helps improve the optimistic perspective regarding the times in which we live.
What does, however, shock me, is the ignorance on the side of many who fail to notice these patterns of history and repeat the mistakes of those who failed before.
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