:salam2:
From A Book “**Salah Ad-Din Al-Ayoobi” written by Dr. Ali Salabi. 
**The Crusader movement
The Crusader movement was a reaction against Islam by the Christians, the roots of which go back to the emergence of the Muslims from Arabia, when they confronted the Byzantine state. This movement developed like a living entity over centuries, hardly emerging from one phase before it entered another. The period between 488 and 690 AH (1095-1291 CE) was only one of its stages. The fact that this phase is so prominent that it almost outshines all other stages is due to many complex and interconnected factors, which a researcher may find in the motives and reasons that led to the onslaught of the huge waves of Crusades at that time.
Historians agreed to use the word “Crusades” or “Crusader” to apply to the entire Crusader, colonialist movement that was born in Western Europe and took the form of armed attacks against Muslim lands in Syria, Iraq, Anatolia, Egypt and Tunisia, in order to eradicate Islam and Muslims and take back Jerusalem. The roots of this movement are to be found in the religious, social, intellectual, economic and political conditions that prevailed in Western Europe in the eleventh century; it harnessed religion as the fuel to achieve its aims.Crusader attacks are nothing new, they are not a strange or exceptional phenomenon; they are the rule, and anything else is the exception.
Hence we say that limiting the time scale of the Crusades to the period between 588 and 690 CE is a mistake, as Professor Sa’eed 'Ashoor states:
***It is not based on a solid foundation or on any comprehensive study of the Crusader movement, but it is (the result of) taking a partial view of the movement and failing to examine its roots and origins on the one hand, and its consequences and legacy on the other.
The Islamic resistance to this invasion was a brilliant indication that faith was still alive in the hearts of Muslims, sometimes at the level of the leadership, and at the level of the masses most of the time. This era produced mujahideen who reached a high calibre of efficiency and capability; these mujahideen spread along all fronts and resisted the invaders at every turn. Throughout two centuries they never gave up their resistance, never accepted the status quo or laid down their weapons. They were constantly prepared, at any moment, to leap upon their horses and rush to meet their goals. Jihad is not created by wishful thinking, and the mujahid does not operate in a vacuum; it is great historical challenges that make Jihad and motivate the mujahideen, and instil in the Muslim fighter a spirit of heroism, sacrifice and martyrdom.
