The Wave That Freed Al-Aqsa Isha Khatira Shaykh
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-08T05:59:51.30652+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Wave That Freed Al-Aqsa
Isha Khatira by Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi
Introduction: The Interim Period (1099-1187)
In July of 1099, the Crusaders successfully from their perspective attacked Jerusalem and overtook the city. As you're all aware, one of the worst massacres of medieval times took place. The entire city was massacred in a period of 10 days.
Women, children, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. What was the result of that? Most of us, we jump immediately to 1187. This took place 1099.
Most of us, we just jumped to 1187. What happened in 1187? Salah ad-Din Ayubi, the Battle of Hattin. But how many years between 1099 and 1187? 88, 89 years.
What was that interim like? What happened during that time frame? So much, and if we don't understand, the circumstances that created Salah ad-Din. If we don't understand the precursors to how Salah ad-Din came about. We're gonna assume Salah ad-Din is gonna come from the heavens, a miracle and then things happen.
No, it doesn't work that way. So many instances laid the foundations for Salah ad-Din Ayubi. And today we're gonna go over some of them because we are currently in that interim.
We're in between 1099 and 1187. You get my drift? We're in between this. 1187 will come, wallahi it will come.
I say this, qasaman billah, that it will come because this is the promise of Allah. We have full yaqeen, it will come. But in the interim, what do we do? We just sit back and wait for a miracle? That's not what the Muslims of that time frame did.
The Scholar from Afghanistan: Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi
So much can be said. But today I'll mention some key incidents and factors. Once that resonate with me personally and perhaps you will understand some of what inspires me as well.
Because when I look to the past, I don't jump to Salah ad-Din, I go to how Salah ad-Din began. I go to the whole trend that where did it all began from. And one of the people who started this entire trend was actually one of the scholars in the neighboring town of Damascus.
In the neighboring town of Damascus, the chief qadi, whose name is Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi. He was giving a halaqa in the masjid of Damascus. You know the famous masjid of Damascus, right? By the way,
who is this guy Zayn al-Din al-Harawi? Al-Harawi, where is al-Harawi from? Who can tell me? Al-Harawi. When you say al-Harawi, it means he's from? Hara? He is from Herat. And where is Herat? Afghanistan. We have an Afghan desi sheikh in Damascus.
The Journey from Afghanistan to Damascus
His story is really interesting. By the way, we should know this as well. Born and raised in Afghanistan.
Speaking, you know, mother tongues, whatever the local mother tongues are, Pakhtun or whatever it might be. I don't know off the top of my head. Farsi, multiple languages.
And he starts learning Arabic. Very poor dirt family, dirt poor family. As a child, he has to start by writing scribes, you know, secretaries.
People can't read and write. He's on the street corner, writing for people who cannot. He starts the lowest paying job.
Then as a teenager, he becomes the Quran teacher for his masjid in Herat. But meanwhile, memorizes the Quran, masters the Arabic language, masters poetry, becomes a very eloquent khatib in Arabic. And goes into fiqh, becomes a faqih, the Hanafi faqih of his time.
He travels to Baghdad. He interacts with the royalty over there. And they appoint him a qadi and send him to Damascus.
Even his story is amazing by the way. So born in Afghanistan, and he becomes the chief qadi of Damascus. Now get back to our story here.
The Refugees and the Mushaf of Uthman
July 1099. The massacre is taking place in Aqsa. And groups of people began fleeing for their lives.
One group amongst them, they took from Masjid al-Aqsa the oldest mushaf. It is alleged, we don't know for sure. It is alleged it is one of the four mushafs of Uthman (radiallahu anhu). That was kept in a special room in Masjid al-Aqsa.
Some Muslims wanted to preserve that Quran. So they risked their lives and they took this Quran, and they fled the city. And they went to the closest large city that is Damascus.
July 1099. And they barge into the Masjid al-Umawi and our guy Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi, he's giving his halaqa in the grand masjid. And they see these people, refugees, bloodied, tattered everything.
And they're yelling and screaming, there's a mob being created, and he's in the masjid. What's going on? What happened? And they say, the Afranj, the Franks, have attacked Aqsa. And we are some of the few that have survived. We have brought the copy of the mushaf of Uthman (radiallahu anhu). And they
began telling the stories that they have seen with their own eyes. Women and children mercilessly killed the streets of Aqsa and Jerusalem flowing with blood. And so Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi decided that he needed to do something.
The Scholar's Responsibility
You see, during times of fitna, during times of war, during times of grief, during times of struggle, some scholars, and I'm not blaming them, they want to withdraw into their bubbles of teaching. And they say, you know, this is not our stuff, I'm not gonna criticize them. But others realize they have a responsibility.
Others realize if the rulers aren't doing something, then the ulema have to make the people feel something. And so al-Harawi decided he will go back to Baghdad and try his best to get the khalifa to rescue Masjid al-Aqsa. This is the same week this is happening.
The same week it's happening. And so he shuts his books, no more teaching. This is not the time to teach now. Masjid al-Aqsa is burning. And he closes his maktab, and he decides to travel from Damascus to Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid empire at the time, to present his case, to bring... He actually brought some of these people with him. He took them with him.
The Bold Act in Baghdad
And he decided to make a plea to the Abbasid khalifa. He enters Baghdad, but the khalifa's staff basically says, he doesn't have time for you. You're not gonna meet the khalifa.
We don't have time, delay a few weeks, whatever. Because again, the khalifa is... he's not just walking on the street, he's the khalifa. And to get to him is an entourage.
So tries, tries, nothing happens. On Friday in Baghdad, when the khutbah is being given, he walks into the crowd in the largest masjid of Baghdad. So this is not the capital of the empire.
And the largest masjid of Baghdad, he walks in the middle, and everybody is listening to the khatib. This masjid by the way, there is a private chamber on the right hand side where the khalifa has a VIP entrance. He walks from his palace in a secret tunnel, and he prays Jum'ah in a secret place.
By this time, the khalifa did not interact with the people. This is not the time of Abu Bakr (radiallahu anhu). People didn't see the khalifa, he's Mr. VVIP. So he walks from his palace to a little chamber, and he walks back in.
Nobody sees the khalifa unless you get into the palace. So our guy, Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi, barges in, khutbah is going on, he walks straight to the front of the masjid, and it is Ramadan. And he turns around, takes some bread, and he eats in front of everybody.
The Powerful Message
Now, what's gonna happen in a Muslim community if you eat in the day of Ramadan? What's gonna happen? Chaos. The people stood up. Have you gone mad? How dare you? Astaghfirullah.
You're eating in the masjid in the daylight of Ramadan. Have you lost your mind? And he said to them, you are getting angry at me for eating a piece of bread in Ramadan, but where are your emotions when Aqsa is on fire?
Where is that rage? Where is this anger? You get angry at a Muslim for eating in the day of Ramadan, and 150,000 people have been killed. Where is your anger now? Everybody silenced.
Subhanallah. What? Like he's making the point here. And then he says, I came here with these refugees.
These people, they saw it. I have come, I am fulan ibn fulan, the qadi of... Because there's no internet, he has to introduce himself, right? And I have come to visit or get help from the khalifa. He has refused even to see us.
He utilized this tactic. What tactic? PR. PR with whom? With the own Muslim community.
The Impact on the Khalifa
Subhanallah. He had to do this to make the point. And so obviously when this commotion and whatnot, obviously he gets an audience with the khalifa.
Subhanallah, it worked to get into the private chambers, to get into the office and the palace of the khalifa. And wallahi, I wish his speech was recorded. I wish there was video cell phone footage.
All that is recorded because everybody who writes a biography of our guy Zaynul Islam al-Harawi, everybody who writes a biography of him, they mention he was blessed with a tongue. They mention he was deep-voiced and eloquent. Like he had the presence of ilm and the presence of haybah of ulama.
And you can imagine, I'm imagining this is not mentioned, but you know, our mashaAllah brothers from Afghanistan, they are mashaAllah big and bulky and whatnot. We can imagine this, right? Our Afghan brothers, they can just coming like that. And he's a non-Arab, imagine.
And he's speaking to the khalifa now. We don't know the words of what he said. We know the impact.
The chroniclers record, everybody in the chamber fell silent. People were crying in the corners. Even the khalifa had to lower his head in shame.
And only one or two phrases are preserved. And he said to the khalifa, here you are in your palaces, enjoying your luxuries. And he pointed to the luxuries they're enjoying.
And Aqsa has been ravaged, rampaged, raped. And you don't even move a finger for Aqsa. And he gave a type of speech that only an alim who fears Allah can give.
The Reality of Political Power
Because if there's an evil person there and he's being so harsh, you know what's gonna happen. You know the reality of politics. You know, I don't wanna mention too much, but even now people are in jail across the Muslim world.
Anyway, I don't wanna mention too much. You get my point here. Can you imagine? He's now speaking to the khalifa, putting him to shame.
As a non-Arab even, I have to mention this point. I have to say, because you have to feel it, mashaAllah, from where to where. And even the khalifa lowered his head, couldn't say anything.
And he mumbled some things, we will inshaAllah do something, whatnot. But see, here's the sad reality that people who don't study history romanticize the past. The khalifa at this point in time was a nobody.
He was a stooge. Like the queen of England. She comes, she goes, nobody cares about her. The king of England, just a rubber stamp. The khalifa didn't even have an army. Because the khalifa at this time was basically a token figure.
Token figure for the bulk of our history. For the most of the Abbasid history. And much even of the Ottoman history.
The real power was not in the caliphate. It was just an office, a title. The real power were the people behind.
The viziers, the people that... The dynasties that were founded underneath the khilafa. You had the Buwayhid dynasty. Now you had the Seljuqs.
Right now at this point, you have the Seljuqs who are actually in charge. The khalifa does not even have an army to do anything. He doesn't even control Baghdad much.
He's just a token figure with plenty of wealth and money. The real power is not even in his hands. But he mumbles and whatnot.
The Result: Al-Harawi's Khutbah
And nothing actually comes of this. But the next week, Al-Harawi was given the khutbah. Subhanallah, after causing commotion, now he was given the khutbah.
And he gave a khutbah the likes of which the whole streets of Baghdad were weeping. And there was a rising sentiment, something needs to be done. He's awaking the people's emotions.
The Disunited Crusaders and Corrupt Rulers
And subhanallah, within a few years, the crusaders were successful from their perspective in Aqsa. Now they established an entire mini set of dynasties. Four or five dynasties.
Again, you should know your history. The crusaders were never united.
The reality is that the crusaders were themselves very much disunited.
You had the Italians, the Franks, the British. You had different groups everywhere. Everyone is different.
And each one is controlling a separate area. So within a few years, the crusader kingdoms, four, five, six kingdoms have all been established on the coastline. And now, some of the key cities are being threatened.
The Corrupt Ruler Ridwan
Including for example Halab, Aleppo is being threatened now. And so once again, the ulema of this region attempt to send a petition to the Khalifa. By the way, again, you should know this.
Don't think that our rulers of the past were any different. The ruler of Aleppo at the time, the ruler of Halab, his name has been recorded in history as somebody who... nobody admires him. His name was Ridwan or Ridwan.
And in fact, when the European army, when the Frank army, when the crusaders were coming in to attack Palestine, Ridwan was engaged in a civil war with his own blood brother who's gonna hold the kursi. And as the crusaders are marching, and literally this is no exaggeration, they go under their noses. Meaning, you know, walking distance, fighting distance.
And they're not interested. Two blood brothers, because their father was the governor, the mini dynasty. And now, who's gonna be the one in charge? They're having a war between them.
And the crusaders are marching in. Who's gonna attack them when you're fighting each other? So, this guy Ridwan is now in charge now. And he's in charge of this area, Halab.
And can you believe, Ridwan had actually signed treaties with the local crusader dynasty, paying them gold, so that they don't attack his principality. You think peace treaties are new? You think normalization is new? Goes back, nothing new. Ridwan would rather ally with the crusader against his own brother.
That's what he ended up doing. He allied with a Frankish mini dynasty, because he wanted the kursi, and against his Muslim brethren. You're not gonna get it.
He's paying gold to them. And the locals of Halab, of Aleppo, they considered him to be a traitor, obviously. And amongst them, their main alim, the greatest alim of Halab of that time, his name was Ibn al-Khashab.
Ibn al-Khashab: The Scholar of Aleppo
Ibn al-Khashab. Ibn al-Khashab, al-Qadi Abu al-Fadl Ibn al-Khashab, he began riling up the masses even against the own ruler, against this guy Ridwan, calling him a traitor. How can you ally with the enemy instead of fighting them, you're paying them gold.
And now they're gonna encroach on our own territory, because that was the fear now, that they're gonna enter Halab. And Ibn al-Khashab managed to get a group of people to once again send a delegation to Baghdad once again. So Ibn al-Khashab, the Qadi of Halab, a few years after the incident of al-Harawi, Ibn al-Khashab as the scholar, as the jurist, as the faqih of Halab, also then took a delegation.
The Second Mission to Baghdad
And in that delegation, once again, he had eyewitnesses to the massacre. It's only been 5 years, 10 years, he has eyewitnesses. And he marches into Baghdad once again.
But this time, they went more than the previous time. Books of history are a little bit obscure in this, and I'm not justifying, I'm not defending, but it is what it is. In order to bring attention to the cause of Palestine, the people that came began preaching and riling up the people of Baghdad to protest outside of the powers and centers.
And when nothing happened, the protesters became violent. When the rulers did nothing, the Muslims of Baghdad became violent, and they destroyed public property, and they did whatever things, they went to the souq, and stalls were whatnot. As far as I'm aware, no lives were lost, but basically they wreaked havoc in the city.
The Rulers' Response to Public Pressure
And the sultans had to do something to show that they're responding to public sentiment. Pause here. The rulers in the end of the day do care about PR.
This is a reality. They did in the past, and they will now. In the end of the day, they need to validate.
Whatever their motives are, leave it to Allah, we need help. Whatever your motives are, you need to do something. And so, the khalifa actually did request.
Who did he request? The Seljuq sultan. Because the khalifa is the Abbasid, is the literal descendant of Ibn Abbas. The Abbasids, this is one of the descendants of Ibn Abbas, literally, right? The 10th or 15th generation of Ibn Abbas.
He has no power. So he kindly please, O sultan, can you do something? You see what the people are doing. He has to beg the sultan of the Seljuqs to send an army.
And so the sultan actually did send an army. The first one. How did it come about? The scholar Ibn al- Khashab foments mass support.
He gets the people riled up. And he publicly makes a show. Now again, I'm not suggesting anything. Don't read into what I'm saying. But I'm saying, learn from the past. Like, the reality is, those sultans, they needed to answer to the public in that regard.
The Battle of Balats (1119)
And so, the sultan of the Seljuqs actually does send an army to fight and defend... send an army to defend Halab from the crusaders. And this battle is actually one of the most earliest and successful battles against the crusaders.
And this battle is known as the Battle of Balats. Battle of Balats. In English, if you look up the history books, the battle of the field of blood. The battle of the field of blood.
In 1119. Way before Salah ad-Din Ayyubi. 1187 and Salah ad-Din Ayyubi. 1119. Salah ad-Din is not even born right now. In this battle, around 10,000 Muslims lined up.
Many of them sent by the Seljuqs to defend Halab. And on the opposite side was the Italian crusader king. I forgot his name.
Ibn al-Khashab's Pre-Battle Khutbah
The Italian crusader king on the opposite side. And before the battle, Ibn al-Khashab comes and rides out on his horse dressed in the garb of ulama. Now, ulama had their special... Professors had their own garb.
You know the turban of ilm. He dressed in the garb of ulama. He's like a professor coming out.
And when the crusaders saw him, they laughed. What is this professor doing over here? What is this faqih doing over here? Ibn al-Khashab then turned and faced the army. He put his back to the Franks, to the crusaders.
And he gave a khutbah. Again, we don't know the wording of it. He gave a khutbah, the likes of which everybody in the army was weeping.
We know he mentioned Masjid al-Aqsa. We know he mentioned the blessings of striving for the way of Allah. We know he mentioned the blessings of being witnesses unto Allah.
And he encourages them to stay put and do something for the religion. The entire army was weeping and overcome. And when the crusaders saw this, they realized this is not your average guy here.
The Victory
And subhanAllah, when the army came, he was at the forefront. And this victory was the first major victory against the crusaders. 10,000 against 20,000.
And it was a resounding defeat for the crusaders. The bulk of the army, the rest of the army died, the 20,000. And the Muslim casualties were minimal.
This spread a hope, an optimism that, hey, we can do something. That optimism, it generated so many other mini battles. It generated an entire feeling that, hey, this is possible.
We can actually win here. And along with the mini battles, you also had great ulama, not just Ibn al- Khashab, many ulama who wanted to keep the spirit of al-Aqsa alive.
Preserving the Memory of Al-Aqsa
Ibn Asakir, one of the greatest scholars of that time, again from Damascus. Ibn Asakir wrote a number of treatises about the fada'il of Aqsa, and the fada'il of Ash-Sham, and the fada'il of...
That's why he's known. If any of you students of Islamic studies, when you hear Ibn Asakir, you associate him with history. Do you know why he talked about history? Do you know why Ibn Asakir wrote about history and the fada'il and whatnot? He wanted to keep the memory of Aqsa alive.
And he wrote books about the blessings of Aqsa and the history of Aqsa. Because it was the time when you couldn't forget about the blessings of this land. Another great alim, which I'm not gonna mention the name or the book, but understand what I'm saying here.
One of the most important treatises on struggling for the sake of Allah. One of the most important treatises ever written. It was a very emotional, it is a very emotional treatise.
And it was meant to be read in public, in the khutbas, in the duroos. It's a little book. It's not a massive volume. It's meant to revive the spirit of struggling for the sake of Allah. And he wrote this book in the thick of this interim period. And this book became well read in Bilad al-Sham across the Muslim world.
And it is one of the most famous books to this day of that genre. And let's keep it at that and I hope you see what I'm saying here. So this is being done.
While there seems no hope, there is no light. The scholars have to do something to keep that light alive. They have to keep Masjid al-Aqsa. They have to keep the realities of Islam and our iman in the minds of the people.
Maudud: The Forgotten Hero
And the same Sultan that sent the army to protect against Halab, that same Sultan, and with this inshaAllah final anecdote, that same Sultan also decided to send another army. And this army was to protect Mosul in Iraq that was being attacked by the Crusaders.
Because again you have to realize, in the beginning of the Crusades, people didn't know how deep the Crusaders are gonna go into Muslim lands. There was no idea. And eventually the Crusaders just stuck to the shoreline, which is now basically Gaza, and Lebanon, and this area.
The Crusaders took to the shoreline and that helped them because of the boats and the ships. But when the Crusaders came, we didn't know how deep they're gonna go. What if they enter Iraq and to other places of Sham.
And so Mosul was under threat. And so the Seljuk Sultan sent one of the military leaders and generals, his name is Maudud. He sent Maudud to protect Mosul and to fight against the Crusaders.
Maudud's Victories
And Maudud was also successful. In fact, Maudud was so successful, he went further down south and he began to engage with actual fortresses until finally he engaged in one of the most famous battles of this time frame, the Battle of Sanabrah. The Battle of Sanabrah, which took place with the king of Jerusalem, King Baldwin.
King Baldwin from England. King Baldwin of Jerusalem. The one who was in charge of Jerusalem, Maudud was able to engage with him directly.
Not in Jerusalem but still, you're engaging with the real enemy right here. And believe it or not, he won. It was not in Jerusalem, it was miles away.
But still, the fact is you are now defeating barely. It wasn't a decisive victory. Severe losses on his side, but more losses on the side of the Crusader army.
The Betrayal
But subhanAllah. Back to our guy, Ridwan. Ridwan did not want the Muslims to succeed because he's comfortable and the Crusaders are protecting him.
Actually, you will not believe this. When Maudud's army passed by Ridwan's city, he refused to open the gates and give them food and drink. This is how stingy and how on the other side he was.
Now that Maudud was successful, he goes back to Damascus to rest, to recuperate. And the goal was, this is four decades before Salahuddin. No, six decades before Salahuddin.
Way before Salahuddin. Maudud's goal was to liberate Aqsa. Most of us have never heard of his name.
But I am telling you without Maudud, we wouldn't have had the trajectory. You'll see why. Maudud went back to Damascus.
The Assassination
And in Damascus was the envoy, was the leader, was the governor under our guy Ridwan. Now something happens which was one of the mysteries that we'll never solve until the day of judgment. Maudud was wounded from the battle, but he's gonna recover.
He's gonna go back to Masjid Al-Aqsa to fight. After Salatul Jumu'ah, the leader of the city who's friends with Ridwan is holding his hand and walking out with him right after Salatul Jumu'ah. You know where this is headed.
An assassin comes out of nowhere and stabs and kills our guy Maudud on the streets the week after his victory against the king of Jerusalem. In Damascus, he is assassinated. By whom? By our side.
Who's the guilty culprit? People immediately accused Ridwan. But he said, No, no, Wallahi, it's not me, no. And the actual person who paid the assassin because very conveniently, very conveniently, the assassin was immediately taken and executed.
So nobody actually knows who and paid and whatnot. So there goes Maudud. But Allah Azza wa Jal works in ways we don't understand.
The Rise of the Zengid Dynasty
Eventually, even Ridwan fell out and he died as well because this is the sunnah of Allah. Traitors are never successful. And with Ridwan passing away, there was a power vacuum in which eventually, within a few years, a dynasty comes in that vacuum.
That dynasty, you're all aware of it. It is the Zengid dynasty. After Maudud's death, after Maudud's assassination, by a few years, Ridwan dies.
When Ridwan dies, the Zengid dynasty comes to power. And in the Zengid era, ulema are preaching once again. There are so many ulema of the Zengid era, so many ulema preaching, riling up the masses.
And we all know the story from here. Imad al-Din al-Zengi, he puts it in his mind, I need to free. He passes away, Nur al-Din al-Zengi, he takes it on.
He passes away, and then Salah al-Din comes. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Conclusion: The Foundation Builders
But I want to conclude on this point. Those who died in the first 2, 3, 4 decades after the Crusades, did they die in vain? They laid the foundations for what was to come. Later historians, I was reading a book today, somebody actually remarked that the Battle of Sanabil, even though it's in the footnotes, it was a key turning point in the Muslim-Christian battle. Because it gave hope and impetus.
It showed people that, hey, we can win. That optimism, it came because ulema had the audacity to speak directly to the khulafa. Because ulema kept the memory of Aqsa alive.
Because the people's heart was so powerful and strong, even the viziers and the sultans had to listen and do small things. And those small things started a wave that the khulafa did not intend. Salahuddin Ayyubi was not chosen by any khalifa.
You have to understand this point. Aqsa was not rescued by the khulafa. It wasn't rescued by the politicians.
No. In the vacuum and the chaos that was created, people came who were warrior princes and who had faith in their hearts. And these people, like the Zangids and like Salahuddin, they're coming after all of these incidents and much more.
Our Role Today
So sisters and brothers, we cannot assume that a miracle is gonna happen and things are gonna change. Until Salahuddin comes, because there's going to be one person without a doubt, that's Allah's way, that Allah Azawajal.
Until that person comes, we have to keep the memory and the spirit of the blessings of that land, of the fact that it is painful, it is lost, of the realities of all aspects of our faith, whether it is iman, whether it is taqwa, whether it is sabr, whether it is struggling.
All of these things, we have to keep the realities of these things alive because that's the way eventually the circumstances will be formed. That inshaAllah will bring about the change. Do not trivialize your role.
Do not trivialize your impact, whatever it might be. Most of us have never heard of Mawdud's name.
Most of us have never heard of Ibn Khashab's name.
Most of us have never heard of Al-Harawi's name. But Allah Azawajal has recorded the impact that they have. And when you study, you see this reality.
So may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as well allow us to be the Ibn Khashab's of our times. Allow us to be the Harawi's of our times. We want to tread in those paths.
And may Allah Azawajal show us that day when Salahuddin returns. May Allah Azawajal free Masjid Al- Aqsa. Wa jazakumullahu khairan.