Huff Post: The humanity and compassion of mankind are tested in times of uncertainty and fear.

The attacks in Paris on November 13 and the shooting in San Bernardino on December 2 spread the brutality and sadism of ISIS to Western soil. It has never been clearer that action must be taken to destroy this terrorist group. ISIS follows a distorted version of Islam that is unrecognizable to nearly all of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. The West must differentiate between the peaceful Muslims living within and entering through its borders and the brutal members of ISIS. The need for nuance in religious identification during wartime recalls a figure in Islamic history that offers valuable lessons for these perilous times.

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (c. 1138-1193), popularly known in the West as Saladin, is a rare figure in Middle Eastern history that earned the respect of Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. He is primarily known for defeating the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin and recapturing Jerusalem in 1187. Like anybody, he had flaws, but history upholds him as a paragon of chivalry, compassion, and generosity. As the French Historian Rene Grousset said, “[Saladin’s] generosity, his piety, devoid of fanaticism… won him no less popularity in Frankish Syria than in the lands of Islam.” Saladin was a Muslim Sultan, but he is also a universal figure.

During the European conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Crusaders slaughtered Muslims and Jews alike, including women and children. Eighty-eight years later, Saladin recaptured Jerusalem. The city’s Christians feared for their lives because they were certain that the Muslims would avenge the deaths of their people, and Saladin was in a position to do so.

Yet, Saladin did not shed the blood of Christians in Jerusalem. He freed all the prisoners who could not pay their ransom to ensure that they were not condemned to a life of slavery. For forty days, he granted all Christians from foreign lands safe departure and allowed them to return to their respective countries with their property. He found the male guardians for Christian women to ensure that they were provided protection and shelter on their return journeys. He allowed the Eastern Christians to stay and reinstated the right of every Jew to visit and resettle in Jerusalem. He conquered Jerusalem on a Saturday and ordered that the Church be open on Sunday for services.

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