October 2: Today is the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria against the leader of the Christian Crusades, the French Balian d'Ibelin who surrendered to Saladin, on October 2nd, 1187.

After capturing Jerusalem in October 1187, Saladin's civilized act in signing the peace treaty

and saving Christian blood was indeed a pious act.

Saladin ended the first Kingdom of Jerusalem, after 88 years of Crusader governments. European Christians sought revenge with the Third Crusade, led by the legendary Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus, and Frederick Barbarossa, separately.

After numerous attempts by the Crusaders of Jerusalem to capture Egypt, the great sultan Salah al-Din, called Saladin by Europeans, seized Cairo in 1187.

The defeat Saladin handed the Crusaders meant the end of the first Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Muslims knew the "Crusaders" and the "Franks". Jerusalem had been taken by the Christians in 1099, during the fierce and bloody campaign of the First Crusade, where they massacred Jews, Christians, and even Muslims as well, after Pope Urban II preached about the "conquest of the Holy Land".

After Saladin's victory at the Battle of Hattin, the same Sultan asked the Jews to return to Jerusalem and allowed them rearranged in the Holy Land.

Although the Third Crusade was somewhat successful, he failed to recapture Jerusalem. That led to the signing of the Treaty of Ramla in 1192, whereby Jerusalem will continue under Islamic control, but allowing Christians to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land.