The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades.

• Author: Christie, Niall
• Position: Book review

Usama ibn Munqidh. The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades. Translated, with introduction and notes, by PAUL M. COBB. Penguin Classics. London: PENGUIN, 2008. Pp. xlviii + 339, map, family tree. $16 (paper).

A favorite of scholars and students alike, Usama ibn Munqidh (1095-1188) is probably the best-known Muslim source for the Crusading period. Born in the Syrian fortress of Shayzar on the Orontes River, Usama was a poet, litterateur, warrior, and traveler--the last often the result of a need to move on from places where he had made himself unwelcome through participation in political intrigues. He served in the armies of such well-known counter-Crusaders as 'Imad al-Din Zangi (d. 1146) and Nur al-Din (d. 1174), as well as at the courts of the Fatimid caliphs of Cairo and the Burid emirs of Damascus, and ended his days in the retinue of Saladin (d. 1193).

Usama wrote a range of works on literary topics and was best known during his lifetime for his poetry; however, his principal fame rests on his celebrated and much-quoted "memoirs," the Kitab al-I'tibar (Book of Contemplation or Book of Learning by Example). This work has become a staple of research and teaching on Muslim attitudes toward the Crusades and is primarily known through Philip K. Hitti's popular English translation, first published in 1929 and subsequently reprinted repeatedly. For those unfamiliar with the Kitab al-I'tibar, the surviving, incomplete manuscript of the text was preserved in the Escorial Library in Spain, where it was first reconstructed by Hartwig Derenbourg in 1880. It consists of four sections. The first, fragmentary section deals with battles and other important events that Usama was involved in or witnessed. This is followed by a long section recounting a range of anecdotes drawn from either Usama's own experiences or stories that he heard. Two short sections, one on tales of holy men and healers and the other on hunting experiences, make up the rest of the manuscript. For much of the work the narrative is composed of tales loosely grouped by theme, and chronology is for the most part not an organizing principle.

Usama's work thus seems to be an entertaining collection of anecdotes populated by daring emirs (especially Usama himself), dastardly enemies, wise mystics, brave women, and frankly bizarre Crusaders. As a number of scholars have shown, however, it is also not a text that should be taken at face value. Indeed, it is actually a carefully...