The old man was still standing on the overturned fish cart, screaming himself hoarse because he found that not many citizens were putting money into his donation box.
"Oh, unfortunate Syria, still ravaged by Heretics.
Hama City has been put to the torch. Twenty thousand barrels of oil were poured over market stalls, homes, palaces, and Mosques, and a great fire burned for a full month, razing that prosperous city to the ground.
Its people were either slaughtered or exiled. Its leaders, Hade, and scholars of religious law were killed or banished. The Mosques have been desecrated by the enemy! Is there no Power left to stop the Franks from descending upon Tyre, Aleppo, Damascus, Cairo, Mosul, and even Baghdad? Is there anyone left with the will to fight?
Your countrymen are in despair! What are you waiting for? What is there to wait for? Take pity on yourselves, on your women, on your own homes! Act now, before your very lives and fortunes are destroyed!
