July 2017
It was rebuilt as a castle in 1184 by Izz al-Din Usama, a general in the army of Saladin. The castle controlled traffic along the road connecting Damascus and Egypt. According to Saladin's historian Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, the fortress was primarily built in order to help the authorities in Damascus control the Bedouin tribes of the Jabal 'Auf. These enjoyed enough autonomy as to ally themselves to the Crusaders, and had at one point set up a 100-tent camp next to the Hospitaller castle of Belvoir on the opposite side of the Jordan Valley. As such, Ajlun Castle is one of the very few Muslim fortresses built by the Ayyubids to protect their realm against Crusader incursions, which could come from Beisan or Belvoir in the west and from Karak in the south.
(Wikipedia)
Aljoun Castle was the very first stop on my first trip to Jordan. AH and I drove into the mountains outside of Amman to see a place recommended in every tourist guidebook. The castle itself had a marvelous position overlooking everything, but was in pretty bad shape. Its sole claim to fame was that it was, in fact, one of the few castles in the region built during the Crusades by the Muslims rather than the Crusaders. From the Wikipedia article above, it also seems the locals switched sides during the conflict based on whoever was more amenable to their needs. That certainly puts a different spin on the Crusades for me.
The weather was fantastic - not too terribly hot as we were at a high elevation. My overall impression was that Jordan was going to be a great place to visit because its tourist infrastructure was well-developed compared to Saudi Arabia. The Jordanians maintained all their historical sites whether Islamic or not. That also impressed me. Even though our first stop was, in reality, not all that good compared to other places we would visit later, its organization and the government's attention to its importance was refreshing after "history-editing Saudi Arabia".
On the way out of town we stopped at the "Jesus Cave" which had actually been incorporated into a church on the edge of town. If the Northeastern United States had "George Washington Slept Here" syndrome, then Jordan had the same but with "Jesus Slept Here" . Jesus and Mary got around apparently. It was also my first visit to an active church in Jordan and the people there were very welcoming. I sensed no awkwardness or tension between AH and his Christian countrymen. AH commented afterward, "We are all Jordanian - our country is so screwed up, the last thing we need is to start squabbling among ourselves".
Jordan only got better after Aljoun, but it was a great start.
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