ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will examine Muslim reactions to the arrival of the First Crusade and the subsequent establishment of the four Latin states in the Levant. In the process we will discuss the tension between Muslim religious ideology and realpolitik that affected the development of the Muslim counter-crusade, before considering the role played in the latter by ‘Imad al-Din Zangi (r. 1127-46), regarded by both contemporaries and some later scholars as the first great leader in the military jihad against the Franks.
