Usama, The Middle East, and The Crusades

The selection from Usama Ibn Munqidh’s Kitab al-l’tibar otherwise know in English as the Book of Contemplation is a book in which Usama provides a series of short vignettes as a testimony to his experiences in the medieval Middle East and the Crusades. Through his writings the reader is able to get a Muslim account of the Crusades. It is largely a personal account so many details are left out and much background knowledge is assumed. It also is not the most unbiased source as supported by Usama’s frequent utterence that “Allah render them [The crusading Christians] helpless” (Ibn Munqidh 197) Usama also makes no attempt at analysis or understanding and just writes exactly what he observed without asking questions or delving deeper into the myriad differences he discribes. On a whole though it provides a great overview of the experience of many Muslims (especially the upper class, of which Usama was a part of) during this unstable period of invasion and political fragmentation in the Islamic world.

Usama’s account is not a straight forward narrative; instead he narrates brief events in his life usually in order to extol a certain virtue or to prove a point (this type of Arabic literature is referred to as adab) (Cobb xxxi). It also must be said that this book was not intended by Usama to be read as history textbook or as an autobiography; in fact as Paul Cobb explains in his introduction to his translation of this work that Usama intends “God [as] the hero”, Usama is not the focus of the work, instead he acts just a witness to God’s work. This fact goes far to explain much of the language and structure of the “memoir”. It’s important to keep this fact in mind.

This particular excerpt focuses mainly on the interaction between ...

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...nasties that claimed the caliphate).

All in all, this short selection of Usama’s writings does much to further the understanding of the effects on the crusades on many Muslims during this period, though since this was written by an affluent elite it does not describe much of the general populous’ experience. It also provides a good overview of the interactions between Muslims themselves. This was a time fraught with danger and division but Usama’s work shows that a common thread kept many together and preserved a civilization that still exists to this very day.

Works Cited

Cobb, Paul. "Introduction." Ibn Munqidh, Usama. Book of Contemplation Islam and the Crusades. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. xv-xlii.

Ibn Munqidh, Usama. "From Memoirs." McNeill, William and Marilyn Robinson Waldman. The Islamic World. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973. 184-206.