1. The brotherhood of Muslims, Christians, and Jews was a falsehood created by the film. According to Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, the author of A Short History of the Crusades, "that is utter nonsense." He calls the film "rubbish."
2. Back to Saladin, the great peacemaker: When his forces defeated the crusaders at Hattin in 1187, he ordered the mass execution of his Christian opponents. The following account comes from Saladin's own secretary/attache: Saladin "ordered that t hey should be beheaded, choosing to have them dead rather than in prison. With him was a whole band of scholars and Sufis and a certain number of devout men and ascetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them, and drew his sword and rolled back his sleeves. Saladin, his face joyful, was sitting on his dais."
3. When Saladin took Jerusalem, it was pragmatism. He initially planned to put the Christians to death, but as the film in a surprise accurately shows, Balian of Ibelin threatened to destroy the city and kill all the Muslims threre. That is where the movie ends, painting a peaceful picture of Saladin. That is not the truth. Once inside and in control, he enslaved many of the Christians who could not afford to BUY their way out of town.
Yep, more proof that Kingdom of Heaven was merely a political statement perverting history to try to show Christians as being EVIL, and Muslims as all good.
