On how the Muslims treated Christian female captives after the Siege of Jerusalem (1187):
“Women and children together came to 8,000 and were quickly divided up among us, bringing a smile to Muslim faces at their lamentations. How many well-guarded women were profaned, how many queens were ruled, and nubile girls married, and noble women given away, and miserly women forced to yield themselves, and women who had been kept hidden stripped of their modesty, and serious women made ridiculous, and women kept in private now set in public, and free women occupied, and precious ones used for hard work, and pretty things put to the test, and virgins dishonoured and proud women deflowered, and lovely women’s red lips kissed, and dark women prostrated, and untamed ones tamed, and happy ones made to weep! How many noblemen took them as concubines, how many ardent men blazed for one of them, and celibates were satisfied by them, and thirsty men sated by them, and turbulent men able to give vent to their passion. How many lovely women were the exclusive property of one man, how many great ladies were sold at low prices, and close ones set at a distance, and lofty ones abased, and savage ones captured, and those accustomed to thrones dragged down!”
-Imad ad-Din, as quoted in Arab Historians of the Crusades, translated by Francesco Gabrieli (Barnes and Noble Books, 1993), p. 162-63.
Imad ad-Din was secretary to Nur ad-Din and then to Saladin. He was an eyewitness to much of Saladin’s career, and chronicled Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem, and Third Crusade.
