Usama ibn Munqidh was a Muslim faris or cavalier from Northern Syria who experienced and wrote a great deal during the Crusades. His most famous work, The Book of Contemplation, survives as a rare look into the Holy Land during the Crusades from a Muslim perspective. Ibn Munqidh was born on 4 July 1095 at his family’s castle at Shayzar. His family, the Banu Munqidh, were an established aristocratic Arab clan who had the means to bring ibn Mundiqh up with an education typical of the warrior elite. While he had no formal education, his family provided him with tutors who taught him the equivalent of a liberal education: literary arts including rhetoric, grammar, and poetry—and estate affairs such as administration, hunting, and combat. Ibn Mundidh was the Arab Muslim equivalent of a medieval Christian knight—a gentleman of status, expected to fight to defend his property and honor of his family. When ibn Munqidh was exiled from his castle in his mid-thirties by his uncle to prevent him from inheriting the estate, he took his skills to the road and adopted a life typical of a faris; he was a noble mercenary.

His nose for political intrigue brought him under the service of many high-ranking patrons in Egypt and Syria, his last and most famous being Saladin himself, though he frequently had good relations with the “Franks”—the Western European Crusaders who found themselves in a tumultuous Near East—but only during the short truces when he was not actively fighting them. It is this relationship with the European Crusaders that makes ibn Muqidh’s writings so significant. He wrote about them extensively (“may God curse them”), both praising and castigating them, offering a fascinating look at Crusaders from the perspective of the Muslims they were waging holy war against.

The Book of Contemplation is a non-fictional autobiographical collection of narratives. Written in a form of Middle Arabic filled with colloquial and foreign words, the result is a series of short anecdotes with a decided readability. Written not for general consumption but for his patron, Saladin, the book contains praise for the Kurdish re-conqueror of the Holy Land. Writing for the patron was the key to funding and distributing the book and it was distributed and quoted at least into the 14th century but then was mostly forgotten until the badly damaged remains were found in Spain and translated into French in the late 19th century. Since then it has been translated into a variety of European languages including this second English translation.

In its essence, Ibn Munqidh’s The Book of Contemplation is an autobiographical mediation on Fate: some may survive a sword strike to the face, but some will die from a pin prick. “Glory be to He who determines fates!”

The book is organized into four parts. Part One, which is almost entirely lost and begins mid-sentence, is about the great events and calamities in ibn Munqidh’s life. It begins with a fragmented account of a battle with the Franks under the service of Atabeg Zangi and continues with accounts of his service under the Burids of Damscus, the Fatamids of Cairo, and Nur al-Din. Part Two is entitled Wonders of Warfare, Against the Infidels and Muslims and contains numerous anecdotes on combat on various meandering themes, from cavalry tactics to hunting lions, women in battle, the marvels of Frankish medicine, examples of cowardice and bravery, and much more. Part Three, Curious Tales: Holy Men and Healers, contains more anecdotes on medicine and also stories of prophets appearing in dreams. The final part is entitled Episodes of Hunting and contains a series of hunting anecdotes, a subject ibn Munqidh seemed to love.

As stated earlier, Part One is mostly lost, but what remains is a rough timeline of ibn Muqidh’s service under various patrons. The fragment that The Book of Contemplation begins with is excellent in setting the tone for the entire tome: “. . . there were not many Muslim casualties in that battle. However, a messenger named Ibn Bishir . . . happened to be wearing a gilded cuirass, so a Frankish knight, named Ibn al-Daqiq, thrust him through the chest with his spear such that it stuck out through his back (may God have mercy upon him). But a large number of Franks were killed. The atabeg (may God have mercy upon him) ordered that their heads be collected in a field opposite the fortress: they totaled three thousand,” (ibn Munqidh, 11). Right away we are introduced to the carnage of life in the Holy Land during the Crusades. Also, for those not exceptionally well-educated in the Crusades, we may immediately learn something: a European knight is known by an Arabic name. I guess that this particular knight may have been known for being overly particular, but my Arabic skills are rudimentary. Though clearly not intended to be an attention grabber as this fragment was originally well into Part One, it ironically functions well as one.

The very next passage is a story of his home estate of Shayzar being under siege by the Byzantines, referred to as Romans. “[They] and the Franks (may God forsake them) made an alliance agreeing to march on Shayzar and besiege it,” (ibn Munqidh, 11). Here we see that even growing up ibn Munqidh had to defend his own home from Christians, showing the instability of the region and how ibn Munqidh became indoctrinated with the defense of his lands against the Europeans from a young age. It is hard to imagine a more fascinating perspective about the Crusades to be reading from.
Part Two contains numerous small anecdotes about battles he saw or heard about, between Christians, Muslims, and animals. They are so exceedingly numerous that it is no doubt ibn Munqidh spent most of his life in combat. He begins with an introduction saying is only writing down the stories he remembers, because in his old age he became forgetful. So many stories are recorded here that I can only imagine what must be in the stories he forgot. A student can learn much from these passages: how to properly thrust someone with a spear when mounted (let the horse do the work for you, refrain from thrusting with your arms), that it is possible (and highly lauded) to fell two mounted combatants with one spear thrust. In fact, the particular man who accomplished such a feat was pardoned for crimes against his patron for this one act. We also learn of ibn Munqidh’s father in this section who he writes was a great warrior and pious calligrapher. Ibn Munqidh writes of bravery, cowardice, and curious things he saw in battle such as men beating the odds in combat. For example, one man routing four or two men routing ten. He is impressed by these unlikely feats and writes examples of them from Franks and Muslims. Interestingly, ibn Munqidh writes about the status of the Knight in Frankish society for the benefit of the non-European reader who might be unfamiliar. He writes, “The Franks (may God confound them) have none of the human virtues except for courage. They have neither precedence nor high rank except for that of the knights . . . it is they who are masters of legal reasoning, judgment and sentencing.” He continues later, “You see, if a knight is tall and thin, they find him more impressive,” (ibn Munqidh 76-77).

Part Three is focused on healing, both physical and spiritual, and the super-natural. Some parts read like ghost stories. For example, ibn Munqidh writes of a tale he heard about a holy man whose dying request was his body to be taken to the desert and for people to call out a name and inform him the holy man is dead and to request him to present himself. Sure enough, from nowhere a man appeared, prayed over his body, and left, no one talking to him or ever seeing him again. He also writes of the healing power of dreams, and particular instances of medicine. For example, he relates a story he heard where a boil on someone’s neck was cured by drinking raw eggs. “Glory be to the Almighty, the Afflicter, the Healer!” ibn Munqidh writes (ibn Munqidh, 194).

Part Four is a series of anecdotes about hunting: the chase and the use of birds of prey. He praises exceptional hawks, exceptional cheetahs, and exceptional hunting dogs. Like the earlier parts, these stories are a compilation of amazing things that happened during the course of many hunts. The theme of fate continues into this part, with stories of hunting birds capturing smaller birds only to return to their master and fall over dead, similar to some anecdotes he related about warriors he knew. “Glory be to He who determines all fates!” (ibn Munqidh, 230). The collection of stories has no formal conclusion. It merely ends with a seemingly unrelated story of a group of warriors deceiving a hospitable prince of a citadel and capturing it. Such is fate.

One of the coolest primary sources I've seen

Interesting anecdotes from the medieval Islamic world. More interesting and readable than a standard history book.

I didn't want this book to end!

I need to come back to this later in my studies.

This is an amazing book if you wanna see the crusades from islam perspective and how the muslim people looked at the christian. Very interesting ideas.

Usama has been a very interesting companion for the last 5 months of my commute.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Crusades, and medieval life in general

Very cool history, about Europe from an antagonist to European influence. And yet, much as he hates the Franks and loves the Moslems, when waging war he might be fighting either, and at times of peace might be trading with either. Life is never simple, and hasn't much changed in the last millennium.

Being a translation about 100 years old, you get to see a kind of secondary history attached to the footnotes, a more subtle but equally fascinating bit of reading.

It's a dense book that doesn't follow the pattern of a novel. It's more like a conversation with a favorite uncle, who tells some pretty amazing stories.

I heard about Usama ibn Munqidh while reading Steven Runciman’s A History of the Crusades, Vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187 in which Usama features as a charming (mostly diplomatic) recurring figure. As soon as I found out about the Book of Contemplation, I wanted to read it so last month I finally got down to it!

It’s interesting how Runciman chose to focus on Usama primarily in his role as an astute diplomat, whereas Usama himself wishes to be most remembered for his feats in battle and hunting. Yet, despite only showing hints of his diplomatic prowess in a few episodes of the Book of Contemplation, Usama survived countless ruthless regimes, regularly wound up in the service of former enemies of his patrons and lived to be no less than 93. And all this during one of the bloodiest times in world history.

As you read through his book, you get a feeling as to why that is: not only is he clever, erudite and likable, but he is often the sane man in the room, understanding situations, when he can influence them and when not. The episodes surrounding his service to Abbas and Nasr are particularly telling. He clearly does not approve of their actions, but he does not condemn them or leave their service although he knows the situation will end badly for them.

If the History of the Crusades offered an overview of the Crusades, the Book of Contemplation is instead the view of the man on the ground, someone whose everyday life was the intrigues and wars of the Crusades.

And while there were several big, historical battles that Usama participated in, I found the casualness of every day warfare more intriguing. The way, for example, Usama talks about the Franks having ‘a usual spot’ where they made camp whenever they came out against Shayzar. It’s also interesting how easily Usama and his Muslim acquaintances found themselves on opposing sides in a battle. One person can be mentioned as an enemy in one segment, only to be hunting with Usama in the next. And while Usama does not hold back when fighting, he is sometimes relieved when certain opposing fighters aren’t killed because he knew them.

I liked that he decided to reserve a section of his book to the deeds of women. The only reason I gave this review four stars is because of the hunting annex which, for obvious reasons, I did not enjoy. Otherwise, a very interesting read!

If you want to know how a muslim viewed the Crusaders (which he would only recognise as the broader term of Franks - the cross is almost never referred to), read this Usama's version of history, and forget about the current Osama and his war monging. This is the real thing.

Usama ibn Munqidh writes about his extraordinary and long lasting life as a courtier who mingled with the great men of his time, as a battle seasoned warrior, a prodigious hunter and a religious muslim. He tells short tales from everyday life (often his own life) to show how only God has the power to decide the fate of all, humans and animals alike. Besides his book of contemplation, there are other excerpts covering hunting, saints and healers.

Usama's lessons of life are far more prominent in his writings than the proceedings of the crusades, who are only marginally treated. In contrast with the title, the dealings with the Franks are limited to surveys of battles and skirmishes, and a small amount of examplary stories. Usuma does relate on a few characteristics of the Franks as the status of knights, the Frankish jurisprudence with the ordeal, and the man-woman relation that he can't grasp from his Eastern views. He is very vivid in his descriptions and shows some insight in the cultural difference at it was percieved in the days of the crusades. For example, Usama doesn't see the world as divided between Franks and muslims. He notes that the Franks who where born or lived in the East are far more agreeable than the Franks who came to crusade. Though in general his judgement towards the Franks is rather condescending, it is not really destructive, and he even gives praise to some exploits of Franks, something Amin Maalouf ommited from his account of the crusades through Arab eyes. After reading this book, the reader is tempted to conclude that the muslim-christian relations in our time in the present day hot-beds of cultural clashes in the middle east are far more excluding and fanatical.

Man, this was cool! Since it was written in the late 1100s, I was expecting it to be pretty difficult, but it think it helps that this is a modern translation, and also that, other than one section that is a eulogy, it was apparently written in a fairly casual style. I found it really interesting. A lot of it is details of battles with the Franks, or battles with lions or other wild animals, and sometimes that got a little old, although at times it was pretty entertaining. There is also a section on the character of the Franks that was kind of fascinating. And I loved his poems towards the end, about being an old man and not being able to fight Franks and lions anymore. I didn't expect the humor, I think, but I found myself laughing several times at various descriptions of events, or at obvious exaggerations. This certainly doesn't read like a modern adventure story or anything of the sort--it's more like listening to your grandfather meander his way through memories of his past: "It reminds me of this other time, when something similar happened..." But I found the whole thing kind of delightful.

One of the best first-hand accounts of the crusades and the (often hilarious) encounters between Muslims and Christians living together in Jerusalem during the Middle Ages