حروب صلاح الدين وفتح المقدس:الفتح القسي في الفتح القدسي

Hurub Salah al-Din wa-Fath al-Maqdis: al-Fath al-Qussi fi al-Fath al-Qudsi

This is Al-Fatḥ al-Qussī fī al-Fatḥ al-Qudsī by ʿImād al-Kātib (d. 597 AH), a history covering only seven years of the life of Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn (583–589 AH), beginning with the year in which Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn conquered Jerusalem.

It was al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil who gave ʿImād’s book this title. He called it al-Fatḥ al-Qudsī in reference to Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), and al-Fatḥ al-Qussī in reference to Quss ibn Sāʿidah al-Iyādī, the famous Arab orator of the pre-Islamic period. Quss was renowned at the time for his rhymed prose (sajʿ), while ʿImād al-Iṣfahānī had composed this entire book in rhymed prose from beginning to end. Al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil therefore considered this an apt title, intending thereby that Allah had granted ʿImād success in his rhymed prose just as He had previously granted Quss ibn Sāʿidah success in rhymed prose and eloquence.

Al-Fatḥ al-Qussī is a systematic historical record of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn’s military activity between 583 and 589 AH. This was the period of his greatest jihād to liberate Palestine and the lands of Syria in general from Crusader occupation. Through these campaigns, Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn recovered many Crusader strongholds, foremost among them Jerusalem. He also confronted their forces during the Third Crusade, led by Frederick Barbarossa, King of Germany; Richard the Lionheart, King of England; and Philip, King of France. This campaign ended with the Treaty of Ramla, only a few months before Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn’s death.