Dan’s Course on Islam

13.

The stars fled from Abraham when he looked away!

37:88-90.....

14.

Muhammad said that camel’s urine should be drank

as medicine for those who are feeling sick!
Bukhari 1:234..... Narrated Abu Qilaba: Anas said, “Some people of ‘ukl or Uraina tribe came to Medina and its climate did not suit them. So the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (miich) camels and to drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they went as directed and after they became healthy, they killed the shepherd of the Prophet and drove away all the camels. The news reached the prophet early in the morning and he sent (men) in their pursuit and they were captured and brought at noon. He then ordered to cut their hands and feet (and it was done), and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron. They were put in ‘Al-Harra’ and when they asked for water, no water was given to them.”
15.

The sun sets in a spring of murky water?

18:86.....

4:82.....Will they not ponder on the Quran? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein many contradicitons.
16.

The moon was cut in half by Muhammad!

27:88.....

Bukhari 4:830-832.....

Bukhari 5:208-211.....

Bukhari 6:387-390.....
17.

Abraham survived the Flood of Noah’s time!

37:79-83.....

18.
Milk comes from between the excrement and the blood?
16:11.....We pour out to you from what is within their (the cattle’s) abdomen, between the excretions and blood, milk – pure and agreeable to the drinkers.
19.

Honey comes from a bee’s abdomen?
16:69.....A multicolored drink (honey) in which there is healing, comes out of (the bees) abdomen.
20.

Do all anmials form communities like people?
6:38.....There is not an animal on the earth, nor a being that flies on two wings but (forms) communities like you...
What about the spider in which some species the female eats the male after mating has taken place? Is that a community like mine? Like yours?
21.

Does the Sun’s rotation cause shadows?
25:45-46.....Hast thou not turned thy vision to thy Lord? How He prolongs the shadow! If He willed He could make it stationary! Then do We (God) make the sun its guide.
Does the sun move so that it guides the shadows? They taught us in school that the rotation of the earth caused the progressive shortening and prolongation of the shadows ?!?
22.

How would a Muslim who lives in the Artic Circle

Keep the Fast of Ramadan?
2:187.....Seek what God hath ordained for you, and eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread; then complete your fast till night appears.

A Muslim who lived in the Artic Circle would have to keep the fast of Ramadan, and during the artic summer he would starve to death because there is no sunset to make the end of the fast. While waiting several weeks for a sunset he will have to fast and fast and fast until he’s dead.

Is there a Miracle in the Number 19?
“The key to Muhammad’s perpetual miracle is found in the very first verse of the Qur’an, ‘IN THE NAME OF GOD, MOST GRACIOUS MOST MERCIFUL = BiSM ALLaH, AL-RaHMaN, AL-RaHİM’...

When we count the (capital) letters that make up the first Qur’anic verse, we find them 19.²⁰ This is of course a physical fact. And, it was discovered that each word in this verse is mentioned throughout the Qur’an a number of times which is consistently a multiple of 19. The first word ‘ISM ,s found... 19 times. The second word ‘ALLAH’ is mentioned 2,698 times, a multiple of 19 (19 x 142); the third word ‘AL-RaHMan’ is found in the Qur’an 57 times, (19 x 3); and the last word ‘AL-RaHIM’ is mentioned in the whole Qur’an 114 times, (6 x 19).”²¹

However, note that:
1. “BiSM” has been ommited from the study of “ISM” although

“LiLaH” is included in the count of the word “ALLaH”.

2. “ISMuHu” has been ommitted from the count even though

grammatically it is exactly equal to “ISM”.

3. The plural useage of “ISM” and “AL-RaHIM” have been ommitted.

4. The count for “AL-RaHIM seems to be in error.

^21. Khalifa, Rashad, Ph.D., The Computer Speaks God’s Message to

the World.
Dr. William Campbell, The Qur’an and the Bible, p. 253.
11.*

Crusades*

(Crusaders*, Holy Wars*, Campaigns*,

Warfare*, Defense*, Retaking*)
11.1

The First Crusade

(1098-1099)
The First Crusade (1098-1099) came about as a result of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus appealing to Pope Urban II for help against Muslim aggression. This was the most successful recapturing Jerusalem from the Muslims. It was called for in 1095 at the Council of Clermont by Pope Urban II calling for because without any defensive action, “the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked” by the Turks and other Muslim forces. After admonishing his flock to keep peace among themselves, he turned their attention to the East:
For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them the aid whcih has often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have attacked them and have conquered the territory of Romania (the Greek empire) as far west as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Jellespont, which is called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles. The have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devasted the the empire. If you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impunity, the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ’s heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends... Moreover, Christ commands it.
Pope Urban 11, “Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, according to Fulcher of Chartes,” www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-fulcher.html. quoted in Robert Spencer, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), pp. 125-126.
11.2

The Second Crusade

(1146-1148)
The Second Crusade (1146-1148) was an unsuccessful – indeed, sisastrous – attempt to recapture a Crusader state, Edessa, which had been conqured by the Muslims in 1144. At first, it was diverted to a successful operation to recapture Lisbon from the Muslims in 1147; then, when it finally arrived in the East, most of this army of Crusaders was crushed in Asia Minor in December 1147 – before it ever reached the Holy Land.
11.3

The Third Crusade

(1188-1192)
The Third Crusade (1188-1192) was called by Pope Gregory VIII in the wake of Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the Crusader forces at Hattin in 1187. This Crusade was dominated by strong personalities who were often at odds with one another. Emperor Fredrick Barbarosa, King Richard the Lionhearted of England, and King Phillip pf France. The did not manage to retake Jerusalem, but they did strengthen Outremer, the Crusader state that stretched along the coast of the Levant.
11.4

The Fourth Crusade

(1201-1204)
The Fourth Crusade (1201-1204) was disastrously diverted by a claimant to the Byzantine throne, who convinced the Crusaders to come to Constantinople to help him press his claim. The Crusaders ended up sacking the great city, shocking the Christian world. The established a Latin kngdom in Constantinople, earning the everlasting enmity of the Byzantines and further weakening the already fragile Byzantine Empire.
11.5

The Fifth Crusade

(1218-1221)
The Fifth Crusade (1218-1221) focused on Egypt. The Crusaders hoped that by breaking Egyptian power, they could recapture Jerusalem. They besieged Damietta, a city on the Nile Delta that was the gateway to Egypt’s great cities; Cairo and Alexandria. As the siege dragged on, the Egyptian sultan al-Kamil grew increasingly woried and twice offered the Crusaders a restored kingdom of Jerusalem if they would just leave Egypt. The Crusaders refused and ultimately took Damietta; however, infighting and disunity doomed this Crusade. The Crusaders concluded an eight-year truce with al-Kamil and abandoned Damietta in exchange for the True Cross (a relic of the cross used to crucify Jesus), which Saladin had captured.
11.6

The Sixth Crusade

(1227-1229)
The Sixth Crusade (1227-1229) was essentailly a continuation of the Fifth. After years of delaying his Crusader vow, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated by the pope; however, he still made his way to the Holy Land. The mere prospect of another Crusade seemed to frighten al-Kamil, who was also distracted by his attempt to conquer Damascus. He offered the Crusaders a ten-year truce, by which they would regain Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. However, Frederick agreed to leave Jerusalem defensless and allowed Muslims to remain there without restriction. This made it all but inevitable that the Muslims would eventually retake the city. This they did in 1244, killing large numbers of Christians and byrning numerous churches, including the Church of the Holy Seplucher.
11.7

The Seventh Crusade

(1249-1254)
The Seventh Crusade (1249-1254) was the best equipped and best-organized of all the Crusades. It was lead by the pious French king Louis IX. He again set his sights on Egypt, and captured Damietta. However, when attempting to take Cairo, the Crusaders were defeated at al-Mansurah; shortly thereafter, Louis himself was captured. He was ultimately ransomed and returned to Europe after a brief period in the Crusader center of Acre. He even attempted another crusade later, but accomplished little.
The Crusader kingdom lasted a few more decades. Antioch, where the Crusaders established their first kingdom in 1098, fell to the sarriors of jihad in 1268. In 1291, the Muslims took Acre, devastating the Crusader army in the process. The rest of the Christian cities of Outremer fell soon afterward. There were other attempts in Europe to mount Crusades, but they came to little or nothng. The Crusader presence in the Middle East was no more, and would never be restored.
Robert Spencer, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), pp. 147-149.
11.8

A History of the Crusades
634-644: Muslim forces under caliph ‘Umar conquer Jerusalem, in 638, which had been under Christian control. Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land are taken from the Byzantine empire.
7th-8th Cent: The Arabs build an enormous empire from the Indus River in the east to the Pyrenees in the West.
809: Death of caliph Harun al-Rahid: the Arab empire at its furthest point.
969: Antioch recaptured by Byzantium. Fatimids capture Cairo.
10th Cent: Although their civilization is still flourishing political decline among the Arabs begins. The caliphs lose their power to Turkish and Persian military officers.
1009: Fatimids destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
1054: The Great Schism splits the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe and the Greek Orthodox Church in the Byzantine East.
1055: The Muslim Seljuk Turks are rulers of Baghdad.
1071: At the Battle of Manzikert, the Byzantines are defeated by the Seljuk Turks and lose nearly all of Asia Mimor, including Armenia, Antoich and Edessa. The Seljuks also wrest control of Jerusalem from its Egyptian rulers.
1092: Death of Seljuk sultan Malik Shah; Seljuk empire fragments.
1095: In March, Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus sends envoys to Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza, asking for assistance against the Turks. From July – Sept. Pope Urban II goes on a preaching journey calling for a crusade comparing the Reconquista of Spain to the crusade. On Nov. 27, at the Council of Clermont Urban proclaims the First Crusade in the East backed by papal indulgence. From Dec. 1095 – July 1096 there is persecution of the Jews in Europe.
1096: In the spring, the People’s Crusade departs for the Holy Land, led by Peter the Hermit, only to be decimated by Sultan Kilij Arslan and his Seljuk forces near Nicea on October 21. From August to October 1096 French and Italian nobles set out with their armies.
1097: The various contingents of the crusader army arrive in Constantinople throughout the winter and spring. From May to June, the crusaders and the Greeks besige Nicaea, capturing it on June 19. In July, the crusaders defeat Kilij Arslan and his army at Dorylaeum. In August, they conquer Kilij Arslan’s capital city of Iconium. In September, Baldwin of Boulogne and Tancred split their contingents off from the main army and head into Ciclica, taking a number of cities. The main army reaches Antioch on October 21 and begins a prolonged siege lasting till June of 1098.
The First Crusade (1098-1099):
1098: In February, the Franj Baldwin of Boulgne conquers the province of Edessa and assumes the title of count. On June 3, the main army captures Antioch and triumph over a Muslim rescue army commanded by Karbuqa, ruler of Mosul; Bohemond of Taranto claims the city and assumes the title of prince. The Egyptians regain Jerusalem from the Seljuks. There is an incidence of cannibilism the part of the Franj troops against the Muslim inhabitants of Ma’arra. “In Ma’arra our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking-pots; they impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled.” (Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, p. 39)
1099: The crusaders take over several towns on their way to Jerusalem, which they reach on June 7. On July 15, Jerusalem falls to the crusaders, followed by massacres and plunder. On July 22, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem is established, with Godfrey of Bouillon elected as the ruler of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Godfrey refuses the title of king and is instead designated the Advocate of the Holy Sepulcher. On August 12, the crusaders defeat the Egyptian rescue army at Ascalon. The qadi of Damascus, al-Harawi, leads a delegation of refugees to Baghdad to denounce the lack of action by Muslim leaders in face of the invasion.
1100: In April, the Muslim rulers of Ascalon, Caesarea, and Acre submit to Godfrey as tributaries. Godfrey dies on July 18; he is succeeded by his brother, Baldwin of Boulogne, count of Edessa, who proclaims himself king of Jerusalem on Dec. 15 in Bethlehem.
1101: The Italian mercantile republics of Venice and Genoa begin to aid the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Baldwin I conquers Arsuf and Caesarea. Between August through September a final wave of follow-up armies are defeated in Asia Minor by the Turks.
1104: Muslim victory at Harran, which checks the Frankish eastward advance. The crusaders capture Haifa and Acre, while Alexius Comnenus wrests control of Cilicia from the Franks.
1105: Baldwin I continues to expand and fortify the crusader states. King Sigurd of Norway brings army to Holy Land and his forces defeat the Egyptian army at Ramleh. From 1107-1108 the Crusade of Bohemond of Taranto.
1108: Curious battle near Tel Bashir: two Islamo-Frankish coalitions confront one another. The Franks regain Cilicia in 1108. In Sept. 1008 Bohemond surrenders to the Greeks.
1109: Fall of Tripoli to cursaders after a 2000-day siege. During 1109 and 1110, Baldwin captures Tripoli, Beirut, and Sidon.
1110: Fall of Beirut and Saida (Sidon) to crusaders.
1111: Ibn al-Khashab, the qadi of Aleppo, oraginzes a riot against the caliph of Baghdad to demand intervention against the Frankish occupation.
1112: Muslims are successful in repelling the cursaders from Tyre.
1113: First papal privilege for the Hospital of St. John.
1114: Catalan crusade to the Balearic Islands.
1115: Alliance of Muslim and Frankish princes of Syria against an army dispatched by the Turkish Sultan.
1118: Baldwin I dies while leading a campaign against the Egyptians; he is succeeded by a relative, Baldwin II. Crusade of Pope Gelasisus II in Spain. Dec. 19 Saragossa falls to the crusaders.
1119: On June 28, Turkish forces destroy the Frankish army of Antioch in the Battle of the Field of Blood. Ilghazi, ruller of Aleppo, crushes the Franj at Sarmada.
1120: Foundation of the military order of the Knights Templar.
1120-1125: Crusade of Pope Calixtus II to the East and in Spain.
1123-1124: In March – April a Crusade is decreed at the First Lateran Council sending the Venetian expedition to the Holy Land. On April 18, 1123, the Seljuks capture King Baldwin II and decimate his army; Baldwin is ransomed from captivity in 1124. On May 29, 1123, the crusaders beat back an invasion of Egyptians at Ibelin and destroy their fleet off Ascalon. On July 7, 1124, Baldwin II takes Tyre from the Egyptians.
1125: Ibn al-Khashab is murdered by the Assassins sect.
1125-1126: The Raid of Alfonso of Aragon into Andalusia.
1128: Failure of a Franj thrust at Damascus.
1128-1130: A crusade to the East is recruited by Hugh of Payns. ‘Imad ad-Din Zangi, the Turkish governor of Mosul, captures Aleppo in 1128. He invades Antioch in the spring of 1130 but eventually agrees to a truce and retreats.
1129: In Jan. the Knights Templars are recognized by the Council of Troyes. In Jan. crusaders attack Damascus.
1131: Baldwin II dies in August; his son-in-law, Fulk of Anjou, becomes king of Jerusalem.
1135: In May the Council of Pisa. Crusade indulgences are offered to those taking up arms against the anti-pope and the Normans in southern Italy. Zangi tries, unsuccessfully to take Damascus.
1137: Zangi lays siege to the Franks in the castle of Montferrand; in July, Zangi captures Fulk, king of Jerusalem. King Fulk agrees to surrender Montferrand in exchange for the safe conduct of the Franks inside.
1139-1140: A Crusade to the East. In 1139, Zangi besieges the Muslim city of Damascus but fails to take it. The next year, the ruler of Damascus signs a treaty of alliance with King Fulk to provide mutual defense against Zangi.
1140: Alliance of Damascus and Jerusalem against Zangi.
1143: Fulk dies on Nov. 10; his son Baldwin III ascends the throne on Dec. 25.
1144: Zengi, the Muslim ruler of Mosul and Aleppo, captures Edessa, destroying the first of four Frankish states of the Orient.
1145: News of the bloodshed at Edessa reaches Western Europe by summer. On Dec. 1, Pope Eugenius III proclaims the Second Crusade in the bull “Quantum praedecessores”.
1146: Murder of Zangi. His son Nur al-Din replaces him in Aleppo.
The Second Crusade (1146-1148):
1146: St. Bernard of Clairvaux preaches the need for the Second Crusade in France and Germany. Persecution against the Jews breaks out in the Rhineland. On Sept. 14, Zangi is murdered. His sons divide his realm: Saif ed-Din assumes leadership of Mosul, while Nur ed-Din takes conrol of Aleppo.
1147: Preaching of Second Crusade begins; Pope Eugenius authorizes crusading in Spain and beyond the north-eastern frontier of Germany as well as to the East. The Wendish Crusade is launched. In the spring, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany depart on the Second Crusade. On Oct. 24 the Crusaders capture Lisbon. Conrad’s army of crusaders is devastated by the Turks near Dorylaeum on October 25. Conrad retreats and meets Louis in Nicaea.

1148: King of France Louis IV, the Emperor of Germany Conrad III, and Baldwin III decide to attack Damascus, which up to this point has been the one Muslim ally of Jerusalem. On July 24, the crusader army surrounds Damascus, but Nur ed-Din quickly sends armies to reinforce the city’s defenses and the crusader siege fails. On July 28, the crusaders withdraw from Damascus and retreat to Jerusalem, bringing the Second Crusade to an end.
1149-1154: On June 29, 1149 Nur ed-Din defeats the army of Antioch near Inab. In July of 1149 the new Church of the Holy Sepulcher is consecrated in Jerusalem. In 1151, he takes the last remaining fortress of the country of Edessa. In 1153 there is a crusade in Spain. In 1153 Ascalon is captured by forces of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem. Damascus falls to Nur ed-Din, son of Zengi, on April 25, 1154.
1154: Nur al-Din takes control of Damascus, unifying Muslim Syria under his authority.
1157-1184: Series of papal calls to crusade in the East, answered by some small and medium sized expeditions.
1157-1158: Crusade in Spain.
1158: Foundation of the Order of Calatrava.
1162: Baldwin III dies in Feb. and is succeeded by his brother, Amalric I.
1163-1169: The Struggle for Egypt. Shirkuh, lieutenant of Nur al-Din, finally wins. Proclaimed vizier, he dies two months later. He is succeeded by his nephew Saladin. During these years, King Amalric I of Jerusalem maintains an uneasy truce with Nur ed-Din while leading military expeditions against the Egyptians. Nur ed-Din also sends expeditions into Egypt. Saladin, a young Kurd who is one of Nur ed-Din’s lieutenants, begins to rise in power.
1169: On March 23, Egypt submits to Saladin, who becomes vizier of Egypt. King Amalric I mounts his fifth Egyptian campaign in Oct. 1169, with Byzantine assistance. His army sieges Damietta until Dec., then retreats in failure.
1170: Foundation of the Order of Santaigo.
1171: Crusade in the Baltic region. Saladin proclaişms the overthrow of the Fatimid caliphate. Sole master of Egypt, he finds himself in conflict with Nur al-Din.
1172: On Sept. 10 the ‘Abbasid caliphate is proclaimed in Egypt by Saladin.
1173: Foundation of the Order of Montegaudio.
1174: On May 15, Nur ed-Din dies. Saladin establishes himself as the indepedent ruler of Egypt and solidifies his control over Damascus. On Oct. 28. King Amalric I dies on July 11. His young son Baldwin IV, who is afflicted with leprosy, ascends to the throne.
1175. Crusade in Spain.
1175-1180: In May 1175, Saladin gains offical rule of Syria. At the Battle of Myriocephalum in 1176, the Seljuk Turks destroy the Byzantine army. The following year, Saladin invades the crusader states but is defeated by Baldwin IV’s army at mont Gisard. However, Saladin continues to harry Baldwin’s territories while the Egyptian fleet raids Frankish ports. In May 1180, Saladin and Baldwin IV agree to a truce.
1176: Foundation of the Orders of Avis (as the Order of Evora) and Alcantara (as the Order of San Julian del Peirero)
1177: Crusade to the East of Philip of Flanders.
1181-1183: In 1181, Reynald of Chatillon, ruler of Antioch, breaks the truce between the Franks and Saladin by attacking a Muslim caravan on its way to Mecca. Saladin responds by taking aship of Christan pilgrims hostage. Not only does Reynald refuse to negotiate with Saladin, but in 1182 he also begins to raid Muslim ports on the Red Sea. Saladin conquers Edessa in 1182 and Aleppo on June 11 1183. Egypt and Syria now reunited under his shield of power. In Oct. 1183, Saladin mounts a seige on Reynald’s castle but withdraws his forces in Dec. and agrees to another truce with Baldwin IV.