in all European
countries are derived to a considerable degree and indeed virtually in
their entirety from the works on jurisprudence and the legal decision of
Muslim theologians. Were it not for the fear of unduly lengthening the
present text, We would cite these borrowings one by one.

The beginnings of European civilization date from the seventh century of
the Muslim era. The particulars were these: toward the end of the fifth
century of the hegira, the Pope or Head of Christendom set up a great hue
and cry over the fact that places sacred to the Christians, such as
Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, had fallen under Muslim rule, and he
stirred up the kings and the commoners of Europe to undertake what he
considered a holy war. His impassioned outcry waxed so loud that all the
countries of Europe responded, and crusading kings at the head of
innumerable hosts passed over the Sea of Marmara and made their way to the
continent of Asia. In those days the Fatimid caliphs ruled over Egypt and
some countries of the West, and most of the time the kings of Syria, that
is the Saljuqs, were subject to them as well. Briefly, the kings of the
West with their unnumbered armies fell upon Syria and Egypt, and there was
continuous warfare between the Syrian rulers and those of Europe for a
period of two hundred and three years. Reinforcements were always coming
in from Europe, and time and time again the Western rulers stormed and
took over every castle in Syria, and as often, the kings of Islam
delivered them out of their hands. Finally Saladin, in the year 693 A.H.,
drove the European kings and their armies out of Egypt and off the Syrian
coast. Hopelessly beaten, they went back to Europe. In the course of these
wars of the Crusades, millions of human beings perished. To sum up, from
490 A.H. until 693, kings, commanders and other European leaders
continually came and went between Egypt, Syria and the West, and when in
the end they all returned home, they introduced into Europe whatever they
had observed over two hundred and odd years in Muslim countries as to
government, social development and learning, colleges, schools and the
refinements of living. The civilization of Europe dates from that time.

O people of Persia! How long will your torpor and lethargy last? You were
once the lords of the whole earth; the world was at your beck and call.
How is it that your glory has lapsed and you have fallen from favor now,
and crept away