abu-bakr-naji-the-management-of-savagery-the-most-critical-stage-through-which-the-umma-will-pass

“Most of those who have spoken on this time period have treated it by only focusing
on a few of the people who created an effect by combining the separate efforts (of
other people) that preceded their actions. Thus, we see a book that treats the subject
by focusing on the leader Nur al-Din Zank or the leader Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, and
so forth. On account of this, the readers ignorantly think that this part of Islamic
history dealing with the Crusaders was accomplished by the state uniting to
command the Muslims. This is a clear mistake. The readers who carefully examine
this time period see that the Muslims dealt with the matter of the Crusaders by
means of small bands (tajammu`t saghra) and separate, disparate organizations; (for
example), there is a fortress which a family controls and beneath whose authority a
group of people gather; or there is a village that accepts the rule of a learned leader
among them, or there is a scholar whose students join with him and accept his
guidance, and so forth.
Perhaps the best thing to explain the reality of these
situations to us
[13]
is the book al-I`tibr by Prince Usma b. Munqidh. This Usama was from the citadel
of Shayzar and his family, the l Munqidh, were the rulers of this citadel. They had
a visible role in the Crusader wars and Usama was an eyewitness to the wars of the
Muslims against the Crusaders.
Before I move on to another point, it is important to note that the role of the major
leaders, like the Zanki family and the Ayyubids, was to unite these factions (altakattult)
and organizations into a single band and a single organization.