Amin Maalouf, a Lebanese author and Prix Goncourt winner who is well-versed in Arab history, has compiled a documentary of the 200-year Crusades based solely on Arab sources from the Crusades period.
From the Arab perspective, the Crusades were not an epic holy war, but a barbaric invasion by Europeans, an anti-civilizational event that trampled the lives of Muslims through massacres and plunder.
And the event of the Holy King Saladin's recapture of Jerusalem is remembered by the Arabs as a great victory of the Arab world over Europe.

By describing the Crusades from a perspective that has been previously ignored, this book allows us to see the Crusades not as a part of European history but as a world historical event, and provides a balanced perspective.
Rather than rashly exercising his imagination, the author adds value to this book as a historical text by meticulously organizing it so that Arab historians who witnessed and experienced the Crusades themselves can tell the story of the Crusades in their own voices.

Until now, we have only been able to access assessments of the Crusades that exclude the truth, as well as the opinions and thoughts of one side of the war.
This is the book that fills that long gap.
Only by bringing together data and ideas from the Arab world can we look at the Crusades with a balanced perspective and objectivity.
Through this book, which contains vivid descriptions and testimonies of contemporary Arab historians and chroniclers, we can understand what Arabs thought about European Christians and the resentment they held in their lives.
This book is filled with the thoughts of contemporary Islamic intellectuals who were outraged and distressed by the most heinous and inhumane acts committed in the name of religion.

--- p.8

Of course, it cannot be said that it is a completely wrong judgment.
What is clear, however, is that the judgment requires some revision.
The Arabs had clear 'flaws' even before the Crusades broke out.
The Franks may have exposed it and made it worse, but they were not the ones who created it.
Of course, it cannot be said that it is a completely wrong judgment.
What is clear, however, is that the judgment requires some revision.
The Arabs had clear 'flaws' even before the Crusades broke out.
The Franks may have exposed it and made it worse, but they were not the ones who created it.

--- p.361