While the army was being prepared in full swing, Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, made wonderful diplomatic efforts to pave the way for the great expected meeting with the Tatars.

Some parts from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, especially on the Mediterranean, were occupied by the Crusaders. There were Crusader emirates in Acre, Haifa, Sidon, Sur, Beirut, Lattakia, Antioch and others. The strongest of those was the emirate of Acre in Palestine, which was on the way of Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, if he liked to fight the Tatars in Palestine. What should Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, do with the Crusaders in Acre?
Let us think with Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, about this issue.

First: the Crusaders, like the Tatars, are the enemies of the Muslim Ummah, and even more dangerous. The war of the Tatars is barbarous as being rootless, baseless and aimless. It is just for the sake of destruction, and nothing else. The Crusader project in the Islamic territories, on the other hand, is quite different. Their war with the Muslims is creed-based, and they have a strong aversion to the Muslims, and their plan is to wage war against Islam itself, whereas the Tatars fight all humankind and civilization.

The objective of the Crusader project is to settle in the Muslim territories and replace the Muslims, the natives, with the Christians, in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. How far the occupation by armies is from the occupation by peoples! The Tatar armies have, in the future, no way but to leave the occupied country, whereas the Crusader settling people come to live in the Muslim territories. The fact that the Crusaders fight the Muslims on a creed-related basis, and that they fight only to settle in the Muslim territories, make them more dangerous than the Tatars, despite the fact that the Tatar wars are more destructive and detrimental, and both are bitter. Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, knew well that both the Crusaders and the Tatars were his enemies, a fact which he should take into account.

Second: the history of the cooperation between the Crusaders and the Tatars is very long. It is the Crusaders who exhorted the Tatars to invade the Muslim territories since the days of Genghis Khan, and helped Hulagu overthrow Baghdad and the cities of Shaam; and the alliance of the Tatars with Georgia, Armenia and Antioch had happened recently. So, it is probable that the Tatars might conclude a dangerous strategic alliance with the Crusaders of Acre.

Third: as possible as the Tatarian-Crusader alliance might be, Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, knew well that the Crusaders of Acre hated the Tatars as well as the Muslims. They were also afraid of them. The Tatars never respected their treaties; and the collective massacres they committed were famous, and their atrocities in East Europe, Russia and Georgia were etched in their minds, and there had been countless Christians who were killed at the hands of the Tatars, and only a few months had passed since the robbery of the Crusader emirates of Beirut and Sidon at the hands of the Tatars. Additionally, the Crusaders had a strong feeling of resentment towards Hulagu, who unprecedentedly imposed a Greek Orthodox patriarch on the Italian Catholic churches of Antioch. There is severe enmity between the Catholics and the Orthodox Christians, and the Christians of Acre belonged to the fundamentalist Catholics, and did not imagine that this could take place in Antioch, if not in Acre itself. All of this background made the Crusaders of Acre feel afraid of the Tatars, and deal with them very carefully.

Fourth: at that time, in the year 658 A.H., the Crusaders were suffering from severe weakness. Since their defeat in Al-Mansoorah and Faariskoor in 648 A.H., and the departure of Louis IX to his homeland, after a great number of the Crusader soldiers had been killed, and the rest captured, the Crusaders were deteriorating at an increasing rate. Adding to all of this the liberation of Bayt Al-Maqdis in 643 A.H., by King As-Saalih Ayyoob, May Allaah have mercy upon him, the real status of the Crusaders would seem obvious at that time. All those percussions led to a large downturn in the possibilities, capabilities and spirits of the Crusader army in Acre. From this point of view, Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, knew that he would deal with a weak enemy, in spite of having a strong aversion (towards the Muslims).

Fifth: the emirate of Acre was tightly impregnable, if not the most fortified among all the cities of Palestine and Shaam. It was occupied by the Christians in 492 A.H., i.e. 166 years earlier. Since that time, all Muslim leaders, including even Saladin, May Allaah have mercy upon him, failed to liberate it. Qutuz, May Allaah have mercy upon him, knew well that it would be very difficult to liberate the city, even though it was in its weakest state.

http://300035.dotdothktrade.tech/en/artical/20794/problem-acre