In Amin Maalouf's (1984) The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, the Lebanese journalist offers an account of the Crusades from the Arab perspective. The Crusades occurred at a time when Arab culture was viewed by the West as sophisticated and advanced, compared to the Franj (Franks or all Westerners) who were unrefined in comparison, amounting to a reversal of modern perspective (Maalouf, 1984, p. xi). Likewise, Maalouf's account demonstrates that the Crusades were a turning point in Arab-Muslim history. To whit, parochialism in the Middle East and the contemporary division between the West and the Middle East are seen by Maalouf as stemming from this lengthy period of hostility between East and West. History is often written by the winners; in essence, Maalouf's account is the story of the Crusades from the losing side, that of the Arab-Muslims.
The Franj came to the Holy Land with the desire to conquer territory and increase their own resources. Al-Afdal became concerned when the Franj marched further south, discovering that the Franj were acting on their own behalf within their own authority. As Maalouf (1984) writes, the Franj were "seeking to establish their own states, refusing to hand Antioch back to the empire...They seemed determined to take Jerusalem by any means" (p. 46). Of course, the Franj were summoned to a Holy War by the pope, who set as their chief goal the recovery of the tomb of Christ. Initially, the goal of the Crusades was to recapture the Holy Land and Jerusalem from Muslim control.
The idea of bloodshed in the name of God is one now associated with Islam, not Christianity, but during the Crusades the reverse was true. Ironically, Christian and Muslim religious factions would often form alliances against their opponents. The lack of consensus among the emirs led to disunity and Franj success. As Maalouf (1984) explains in one battle, "The negligence of the Muslim emirs also sa...