this thesis aims at studying the arabic poems which represent the warfares and conflicts occured between the moslems and the crusades during about one hundred years of the first crusade(1096-1193 AD). for this period three leaders of islamic world, 'imad al-din zanki, his son nur al-din mahmud bn zanki, and salah al-din al-'ayyubi(saladin') consecutively conducted war against the crusades. arab poets of that time showed in their warfare poems the fights and enmity between the islamic camp and the crusades, both of which tried desperately to capture jerusalem, the holy land common to moslems and christians. though moslems' apprehensions and fears of crusades' invasion are expressed in arabic poems, the arab poets in general manifested in their poems moslems' ardent wish and their indomitable will to defend the islamic territory against the crusades. particularly the poets encouraged the moslem leaders to keep up jihad, the islamic holy war in order to recapture jerusalem from the crusades' hands. in their poems concernig salah al-din's recapture of jerusalem in 1187, the arab poets expressed the comples feeling of perplexity and joy, which moslems had haven, wondering at the surprising result. especially, paying attention to salah al-din's remarkable achievements, the poets were not hesitant to put his position among the great arab figures who had made distinguished contributions in islamic history. even though some grandiloquence was found in the poets' attempts to make salah al-din a hero of epic poetry, such exaggerated expressions could be interpreted as reflection of their intentions to strengthen the solidarity of islamic community by giving him immortal fame in islamic history. the results of this study confirm that the arabic poems furnish very important materials, from which we can get historical facts about the conflicts with the crusades and understand moslems' attitude toward the situation. also the results prove that the arab poets to whose participations in social and political affairs great importance had been attached traditionally, fulfilled their mission in the situation of the confrontation with crusades.
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