All language subtitles for The Sultan and the Saint EN

The year is 1220.

It is the height
of the Crusades.

Muslims and Christians
have been fighting one another

in a war that has lasted
for over 120 years.

Tens of thousands
of Christian soldiers

are trapped and dying
on a flooded field in Egypt.

The opposing Muslim army
blocks their only escape.

Saint Francis of Assisi

and the sultan of Egypt,
Muhammad al-Kamil,

have defied the angry times
and human nature itself

to cross the bloody battle lines
and meet each other.

But will it make a difference?

How does anyone stop
a seemingly endless conflict?

Beset by revolts and
numerous assassination attempts,

the beleaguered ruler

of the Eastern Christian empire
of Byzantium

makes a reluctant appeal.

He asks the rival pope
of the Catholic Church in Rome

for mercenaries.

He wants an outside army
in his pay,

palace guards he can trust,

and soldiers to fight off
Muslim invaders on his borders.

The pope seizes the opportunity
to assert Rome's power

and perhaps reunite
the two churches under it.

He doesn't send the emperor
the mercenaries he wants.

Instead he sends his own army
to fight the Muslims.

If it succeeds, Rome will
dominate the region.

The Eastern Church
will never rival it again.

The pope calls for a Crusade
to recapture Jerusalem

after five centuries
of Muslim rule.

Most people who answer
the pope's call are not killers.

Many are peasants
who've never fought before.

We know that from
some developmental psychology

that children have this tendency
towards empathy towards others,

that they have a tendency

to behave altruistically
towards others,

that they have
kind of the underpinnings

of morality and justice,

and all of these things
help a society remain together.

If you have all of these
psychological tendencies

that are preventing you
from harming others,

how do you motivate people
to fight against other humans?

One of the most common ways
is through dehumanization.

Your brethren
who live in the East

are in urgent need of your help.

Carry aid promptly
to those Christians

and destroy that vile race
from the lands of our friends.

Those who refuse to pay him

the servant's service
that they owe him

will justly deserve to suffer
a sentence of damnation.

What you unleash then

is a certain religious fervor.

We are going to take
our holy site

from these non-believers.

Of course, non-believers
are thrown into one category,

which would include Jews.

The Crusade's
first victims are not Muslims;

they are the Jews of Europe.

There's nothing special
about the teachings of religion

that's driving conflict.

Evidence is starting to show

that the psychological
tendencies that drive conflict

are a complex combination
of processes in the brain.

They're a bunch
of kind of deep structures

that are underneath, that are
kind of central in the brain.

Oftentimes it's referred to
as the reptilian brain.

And we know that it responds
really strongly

to fear conditioning,
fear learning.

The religious propaganda focused

on demonize the other
as heretical, as satanic,

and when you see that you have
in your midst the other as well,

you say why not start
killing him.

No! No!

Contemporaries
were very puzzled

as to why some of the Crusaders
attacked the Jewish communities.

The excuse was
that the whole race was guilty

of the death of Christ,

and therefore
they were fair game.

This kind
of moral disengagement

from harming others
through dehumanization

seems to be a major route

through which you can get
one group of humans

to actually harm, kill
another group of humans.

...against the pagans.

Those who would follow Christ
to the crown,

let them also follow him
to battle!

You have a situation

where you have a lot
of fear activated,

so the subcortical structures
are kind of going off the hook.

It's very strong,

it has a powerful effect
on our behaviors,

and can flip immediately.

So as the Crusaders
make their way across Europe,

they're not distinguishing
between the Muslims,

who have captured the holy sites
in Palestine,

and the Jews who lived
amongst them in Europe.

So all, quote unquote,
"non-believers,"

including schismatic Christians,
are the targets.

When the Crusaders come
into Jerusalem,

Christians are killed
along with Jews and Muslims.

No one is distinguished
from the other.

As far as they
were concerned,

they were all wearing
strange clothes,

people of a strange culture,

so they must all be our enemies.

The cries of battle fade.

Silence descends
on the conquered city.

But it is not the end
of violence;

it is only the beginning.

Christians and Muslims battle
back and forth over Jerusalem

for almost 90 years.

In 1187, troops commanded

by the famous Muslim leader
Salah ad-Din

retake the city.

Jerusalem's no longer
under Christian control.

In the glow of this victory,
Salah ad-Din's young nephew

prepares to be
a leader himself one day.

His name is Muhammad al-Kamil.

More than Jerusalem will be
at stake when he becomes sultan.

The very future of Islam
will be in his hands.

Even as a child,
al-Kamil stands out.

He loved philosophy,
mathematics, learning,

and of course studying
his own faith.

Typically
a traditional Islamic education

would begin with memorization
of the Quran,

and the Quran,
as Muslims believe it,

is the eternal uncreated
word of God.

A childhood filled
with so many expectations

can be lonely.

Al-Kamil's mother
eases the demands.

The Quran speaks
to religious communities

other than the community
of Muhammad.

The Quran speaks
to Jews and Christians,

who are children of Abraham who
share the faith in the one God.

No compul...
com... pul...

Compulsion.

No compulsion
is to be on them.

We have significant
theological

and practical differences,

but we harness those differences
to compete with one another,

not in animosity,

but towards
the common good of all.

He grew up with
a great love of learning,

certainly part
of the royal court,

for him to be trained to be
the leader of Egypt.

Al-Kamil comes to power

at a time of crisis in Egypt.

Poor harvests
have brought famine.

Political dissent
challenges his rule.

Religious tensions
are on the rise.

Enough. Enough!

But a greater danger
looms across the sea.

Cries for the recapture
of Jerusalem

once again sweep through Europe.

In the markets and streets
and taverns,

a romanticized view of war
takes hold.

Many dream about the glories
of battle

and are eager
for the coming conflict.

One of them is a young man
named Francis

from a small Italian town
called Assisi.

As a young man

Francis is what we might call
a bon vivant,

a man around town,

his social activities are
hanging out with his friends,

probably going around Assisi,

you know, making a little bit
of trouble.

Drinks for everyone!

Although he was
a member of the middle class,

and his father being
the merchant,

Francis also had pretentions
of the class above him,

the aristocracy, the nobility.

He liked to dress
in fine clothing,

he liked the panoply
of being a knight--

the armor, the weaponry.

He was like a knight wannabe.

Petty wars between
Italian city-states were common.

When one erupts between Assisi
and a neighboring city,

Francis eagerly joins.

And suddenly
he's thrust into battle,

and, of course, battle
at this time is, is horrible.

This is hand-to-hand combat.

This isn't anything abstract.

Since Francis
is from a wealthy family,

he's taken prisoner
and held for ransom.

He languished until
his father could ransom him

from captivity,

but it took a year.

Francis leaves
that imprisonment after a year

as a shattered
and hollowed-out young man.

Was he simply going
to return to his life

of carousing
and just having fun?

How are you?

What are you doing?

What are...

What was his life to be about?

What was he being called to?

In Cairo, a dispute
between Muslims and Christians

threatens bloodshed.

It must go!
It must go!

It must go!

Sultan al-Kamil has very
good relations with Christians.

On one occasion
there was a dispute

about whether a mosque
or a church

should be built
on a certain site.

It must go!

A mob in Egypt
wanted to build a mosque

next to the most holy
Christian church in Cairo.

It must go!
A mosque once stood here!

It must be rebuilt!

No mosque was ever here!

He determined that there
had been a church there earlier,

which was the claim
the Christians were making,

and so he supported them
in that.

You are looking
for excuses

to justify a wrong!

It must be rebuilt.
No. No!

It must be rebuilt!

No, no.

When the mobs
were throwing stones at him,

he didn't react violently,

he didn't ask his bodyguards
to go and kill them.

God created us
separate nations

so that we could learn
from one another

and become better
in what we are.

Not harm one another.

We become less.

This became
very controversial.

He was willing to take
some heat for this.

The Christians
really appreciated

that they were
being treated fairly.

Francis spends
a number of months,

perhaps even a year,

wandering in the countryside.

One day he comes to the profound
insight of his life,

which will be the foundation

for the rest of his life
and his spirituality

and of his own order.

Leprosy was a common
and much feared disease

in the Middle Ages.

Francis had
an abhorrence of lepers.

Stay back!

They would have to
make some kind of noise

with a bell or a clapper
when someone was approaching.

Stay back!

Stay back!

He realizes--perhaps
the first time in his life--

these are genuinely suffering
human beings.

Men and women, like himself.

This then becomes
the foundational insight.

Every man and woman,
without exception in creation,

is a brother and a sister,
one to another,

constituting a commonality that
we all share with each other.

That basic conviction

that really took hold
in Francis's heart

set him on a path
that was very different

than his original dream.

Francis adopts this life
of voluntary poverty and penance

and preaching
a message of peace.

Gradually there's other
young men in his town

who can see the wisdom of this
and are attracted to it,

because they also want to drop
out of the cycle of violence

that is afflicting them.

Where there is darkness...

What's going on?

Where's everyone going?

Where there is sadness, joy.

We are more than just
our daily struggle.

The Lord has made us all
for a greater purpose...

to be instruments of peace.

Where there is doubt, faith.

It is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning...

that we are pardoned.

It is in dying...

that we are born
to eternal life.

There was
a tremendous response

to living in the world
in this way,

and little by little

a number of people
followed Francis.

Francis travels the country

preaching about
the Lord of Love.

But the medieval Church
still holds to the vision

of a ferocious, vengeful God
who summons believers to war.

A new pope, Pope Innocent III,
calls for another Crusade.

Every day
during the celebration of mass,

when the time has come
before the kiss of peace,

the priests should say
to their flocks,

"God, we humbly beseech thee

to snatch this land
from our enemy!"

The Crusaders
go to Constantinople

on promises to fund their
new war over the Holy Land.

When the payments don't come,
they attack Byzantium instead.

Once you've stoked
this in-group fervor,

it seems like
that can be applied

to many different out-groups.

They make a prostitute
sit on the emperor's throne.

They try to sell
this whole idea to the pope

by saying, "Now we hold
Constantinople,

we've also restored it
to the true holy Catholic faith.

Those fools!

The pope wasn't
really buying this,

but he had to make the best
of a bad job.

Pope Innocent III
explicitly banned a tax

on Christian communities.

But with Constantinople
in ruins,

he decides to assert
Rome's authority.

He dispatches a trusted cardinal
named Pelagius to take control.

Cardinal Pelagius
was sent as the pope's legate,

and he was sent to solidify
the gains

of the Latin Christian Church,
the Roman Church,

against the Greek clergy,

who wanted to return
to their own city.

He wears
these scarlet robes,

which was something new
at the time,

because that's the color of
the martyrs that he's adopted.

What has happened here
is a travesty!

Don't speak
until given permission!

Such behavior.

Tell him
to tell his priests

that they are subject
to the one true pope...

His Holiness in Rome.

What right do you have...

Tell him...

that the only words
I want to hear from him

are the names of those priests
who ignore this.

That is all.

He was known to be

a hard-nosed, intransigent
supporter of the papal policy.

In other words, it was the
supremacy of the Latin Church

over any competitors,

be they the Greek Church,
be they Islam.

No one speaks unless
Pelagius first gives permission.

Understand?

Go.

After the sacking
of Constantinople,

Pope Innocent III vows
that the next Crusade

will be under strict
papal control.

He sends an order to the priests
throughout Europe

to recruit a new army.

One of the most
successful preachers

was a German priest
named Oliver of Paderborn.

He was a cleric;

he was involved
in preaching the Crusade;

a very intelligent man,
very pious man.

He was also technically minded,

because he designed
some of the war machines

used during the Crusade.

A strategic decision was
made by the Christian leadership

to attack Egypt.

If we could control
that trade route,

we will be rich people.

If the Crusaders
conquer Egypt,

they can easily take Jerusalem.

And if powerful Egypt falls,

the Muslim Middle East
will likely fall with it.

Only one thing stands
in their way--

a fortress city called Damietta
at the mouth of the Nile.

The Crusaders
could not sail through the Nile

unless they took the town,

so if you are to control
Damietta,

you almost control Egypt.

One of the most
important sources we have

on the Crusade

comes from the pen
of Oliver of Paderborn,

who comes on site and leaves us
a remarkable chronicle

of the events around the siege
of Damietta.

"The capture of hostile land

was achieved
without any loss of blood.

Upon coming to shore,
a few Egyptians approached,

but a Friesian struck one dead
with an iron spear,

and the rest fled in terror."

News of the invasion
reaches Cairo.

Al-Kamil hurries a force
to Damietta.

Vastly outnumbered,
al-Kamil's soldiers

can only dig in
and defend the perimeter.

What's the report?

Sire, more of their
reinforcements came today.

We need more siege weapons.

Damietta's walls are strong,
but they've never been tested

against such fearsome weapons
before.

They launched another assault...

He's in
a rather precarious position.

We know that he even
faced the danger

of a coup from within.

You can clearly see

in his attempts to come to terms
with the Crusaders

a ruler who is very concerned
with the damage

that the crusading campaign
is having on Egypt,

and the reality is he needs
to come to some kind of deal,

otherwise he's going to face
destruction.

The war racks Egypt
for two years.

During this time,
Francis is preaching the gospel

and growing his movement
across Europe.

Now he wants to bring his
message of peace to the Crusade.

He travels to Damietta with
another friar, named Illuminato.

Francis tells us that he
clearly heard God asking him

to be a peacemaker
in this world,

a peacemaker in the manner
of Jesus Christ.

Francis realized
that the message he was given

to promote peace in the world

necessitated him
going to the Muslims.

He wants to reach out
to these people

who were supposed to be

the great enemies
of Christendom.

I just have to say
Francis thought big.

Pelagius is sent
by the pope

to lead the new Crusade.

His presence in the camp
at Damietta

was a rather provocative
presence.

He was an instigator in order
to ensure that the pope's policy

of the defeat of Islam happened.

Soon after arriving,
Francis faces his first test.

Pelagius calls for a new assault
on Damietta.

Francis decides
that he's going to speak out

against this battle.

He feels he's called to do this.

And he goes out and,

according to one
of the Franciscan chronicles,

begins to denounce the battle

and to urge that the soldiers
not fight.

"The saint leapt
to his feet

and rushed to the Christians,

crying out warnings
to save them,

forbidding war
and threatening disaster.

But they took the truth
as a joke.

They hardened their hearts
and refused to turn back."

Kill them all!

Kill them all!

To the wall!

Back to the line!

Retreat!

Retreat!

It was a terrible day
for the Christian army.

Thousands of people were killed.

Very important people
were captured.

It was a total disaster.

This is what we will do.

Following his victory,

al-Kamil proposes a treaty
to end the war.

Terms for a treaty.

Treaty?

Not all his generals agree.

It offers the pope control

over the Christian holy places.

And why give them anything?

Let's punish them.

And how many more
of our men will die if we do?

What about the people
of Damietta?

They're starving to death.

No.

We cannot wait.

Let's give the pope
what he wants

and send his army home.

Al-Kamil hurries
a messenger to the Crusader camp

with his peace offer.

Did that messenger
look like the devil?

Because this so-called treaty
is surely the devil's work.

John of Brienne,

the acknowledged leader
of the Crusade,

is the commander of the army
in name only.

The real authority
is with Pelagius.

But we will be weak
no longer.

The sultan gives us control

over our holy places.

Isn't that what we want?

It isn't what we want.

It isn't what we want at all!

We can finish this
once and for all, here, now!

Yes, we can finish it.

But put away the swords

and bring the Gospel of Christ
to them.

Only then will there be peace.

Who is this friar
who speaks without permission?

I am Brother Francis.

Francis finally
reveals his plan.

He hopes to end the Crusade

by preaching the Gospel
and converting the Muslim army.

So, young friar,
you want to preach to them.

Don't you think that they'll
kill you on sight?

And what difference
would it make anyway

to preach to a handful
of their soldiers?

I intend to preach
to the sultan.

Now you're being ridiculous!

If the sultan is not
the devil himself,

he is surely
the devil's servant.

He'll cut your tongue out
after just one word

and likely nail it
to your forehead.

No... I'm sorry.

You think his real intention
is to martyr himself?

Francis may indeed
expect to be killed

in this effort, but then that
would help Pelagius's cause.

I sent for you to tell
you that I've changed my mind.

You may go.

Thank you.

Your Holiness, thank you.

I will not waver.

You have my word.

I'm sure that you won't.

Thank you.

Francis and Illuminato

cross the corpse-strewn
battlefield.

Wait, please!
Please, wait!

We are ambassadors.
We come in peace.

We come in peace.
Please!

Startled guards
almost kill them.

Francis shouts that he's
an ambassador of Christ.

Maybe this man is bringing news
about the sultan's treaty.

Please...

Who is this?

I am an emissary.

With news
from the king of Rome?

From the King
of the Universe.

Is there to be peace, then?

The greatest peace
of all, I pray.

Stop the riddles!
Is it yes or no?

It's neither.

He isn't sent by their leader.

Isn't that right?

No, I come for Christ.
I come to preach.

I come for peace.

It's an insult.

If this is their answer,
we should kill him.

Come.
Sit with me.

Bring them some food.

I think that Francis
must have been surprised

at what he experienced
among the Muslim people,

because the popular notion
was that Muslims were heathens.

They were considered the enemy,
of course,

and more strongly,
they were considered beasts.

After this encounter
in the tent of the sultan,

Francis and Illuminato were
pretty much given free rein

to walk and to be and to live
in the camp for a few weeks.

These two were indeed
seeking peace

in the midst of war,

so they were open
to being transformed

by the person who was
allegedly their enemy.

One account says
that Francis offered

to walk through fire to prove
the truth of the Gospel.

The sultan declined
the demonstration

but said that Francis
could address his court.

Francis would have heard
the call to prayer

five times a day.

I believe, in watching Muslims
pray, men and women,

five times daily,

that it really struck Francis
unexpectedly.

I don't think he was expecting
to see this, to know this,

but I think
it profoundly moved him.

"In the name of God,
the merciful and compassionate,

glory be to God,
the Lord of the Worlds,

the merciful and compassionate
king of the day of judgment.

It is you alone we worship.

It is you alone
we ask for help."

Give us this day
our daily bread

and forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those
who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

You can directly challenge

this perception
of dehumanization

by showing someone an example
of a member of the other group

who's particularly human, right,

who displays
these very characteristics

that you define humanity by.

It makes sense from a,
from a neuroscience perspective

why this would be
so transformative.

If you eliminate that
distinction between us and them,

processes that would normally
be there to drive conflict

are now all taken off line
wholesale.

Francis, I believe,
came to the insight,

by watching
Muslim men and women pray,

that prayer is of the essence
for the creature,

that if you are a creature,
what you do is pray.

Faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Al-Kamil fulfills his promise.

Francis addresses
the sultan's court.

To be understood...

There is before him
a man who makes no demands,

who makes no threats,

who does not insult
his religion,

and probably
is simply preaching.

Al-Kamil might ask
a theologian

or a scholar in his court

to be a respondent.

That was part of classical
Islamic court life

and court manners.

The respect they had
for each other

spoke volumes to Francis,

that this indeed
was not an enemy,

this was not a beast,

but this truly was a brother.

I believe, we believe.

The sultan welcomed us
to his camp.

I am so pleased
that my prayers were answered

and that God protected you
from these wretched infidels.

It is indeed a miracle.

But I have even greater news
to report.

Reinforcements will be arriving
in the morning.

And our spies tell us
that sickness and starvation

have set in
behind the city walls.

It won't be long now.

If you give up
the rhetoric of hate,

then why continue a war?

And the point was that
the Church at the time

had a vested interest
in keeping the war going.

They wanted Jerusalem,
they wanted Egypt.

That much was apparent.

Pelagius rejects
al-Kamil's peace offer.

The war will go on
until Egypt is theirs.

Sire, they launched
another assault on Damietta.

Sire!

Assemble the men.

I'll lead them.

The Crusaders
keep besieging Damietta,

attacking, being repulsed,
it's a stalemate.

But little by little,
the siege of Damietta

is taking its toll
on the people inside.

How long since they've
been at the ramparts?

Three days.

Alert Cardinal Pelagius.

There were 80,000 people
at the start of this war,

and almost all of them die
from disease and starvation,

and so, in the end,

a party of Christian troops,
Crusader troops, goes,

and they just kind of go up
and enter the city.

With the capture
of Damietta,

the Crusader army
marches on Cairo.

Al-Kamil must retreat.

The panicked population
flees the countryside.

All is lost.

Ill and dispirited,
Francis has returned to Assisi.

It's really a low point
in his life.

First of all, he's ill.

Secondly, he's learned
that his order

has gone in directions
that he disagrees with.

All of the sudden
in his writings,

there is this universal vision

of men and women all called
into the praise of God.

I think that it is
profoundly rooted

in what he observed first
in Damietta

among Muslim men and women,

and then this insight
gets translated

into his own writing to all
Christian men and women.

He writes a letter,
which we call

"The Letter
to All the Faithful,"

in which he urges every man
and woman in the world to pray.

In another letter,
he writes,

"Perhaps a herald could go
through the town

announcing time for prayer."

He says that you must
make Christians stop every day

and pray together
wherever they are.

The biggest indication
that Francis was changed

by his encounter
with Sultan al-Kamil

is that he rewrote
the rule of his order,

its code of conduct,
its constitution, really,

to say to his friars

that you can go and live
in peace among Muslims.

You could not have
a saintly figure

who is willing to see
the goodness in non-Christians.

Guard!

Pelagius is within
a few days' march of Cairo.

His only thought now
is to defeat al-Kamil

and take Egypt.

The Crusaders thought
that they got it made,

they were marching
towards Cairo.

What could stop them now?

The answer is the Nile.

The Nile is rising.

And they've made camp
here on the floodplain.

The Crusader army does
penetrate deeper into Egypt

but doesn't know the terrain,
doesn't understand

these networks of canals
that they have

and this river,
this ancient river,

which can be raised and lowered.

Al-Kamil ordered
the sluice gates open

and he flooded the country.

They go to sleep
one night

and are ready for battle,

and the next day
they're flooded,

they're in mud
up to their waists.

Your Holiness...

we are defeated.

This is it.

They've left us no choice,
and you know it.

All the generals told him

let's go for the kill.

The encounter of Francis
with the sultan Malik al-Kamil

is probably best portrayed
as an encounter of faith.

It was a faith exchange.

It wasn't so much
an intellectual debate,

but it was an exchange
of two men of faith

testifying to how God
has led them

to this point in their lives.

And each seemed,
according to the testimonies,

okay to listen
to the other's perspective

and allow God to be God
in the lives of both of them.

Surrounded
by the floodwaters,

they must have been going down
like flies with plague

and all the problems
that you have when you're,

got a large army camped out
on flooded ground.

They can't fight.
They're surrounded.

The Muslim army
could kill them all at will.

He realized
that the Crusaders

are now
in a very dire situation,

they have starvations
in their camp.

They are surrounded by mud.
They can't escape.

So he orders
50,000 loaves of bread

sent to them every day

and 1,100 bushels of barley
for their animals.

Bread! Everyone!

Bless you.

Thank God.

The sultan
was moved by such compassion

that for many days he freely fed
us as we were dying of hunger.

Who can doubt that such
kindness, mildness, and mercy

proceeded from God?

Francis wants,
once again, to write.

He writes what we call
"The Praises of God."

He names the attributes of God
that he's giving praise for.

And he says things like,
"You are mercy.

You are forgiveness.
You are compassion."

What's remarkable about that

is that it's the very way
that Muslims invoke

the 99 Beautiful Names of God.

The 99 Names of God
are attributes of God.

For example, the merciful,
the compassionate,

are the qualities
embodied by God,

are the ways in which God
interacts with creation,

and Muslims recite and meditate
upon these divine names

as a means
of self-transformation.

The Crusaders
surrender control of Damietta

and return to Europe.

Pelagius's dream of conquering
Egypt was over.

A few years later
he lost another war

against a Christian king

who refused to send troops
to the Crusade.

Shortly after that final defeat,
Pelagius died.

Oliver of Paderborn
returned to Germany,

never again taking up
the trade of war.

John of Brienne gave his wealth
to the Franciscan Order.

He was buried wearing
the simple robes of a friar.

Al-Kamil's act of humanity
marked the beginning of the end

of the terrible period of
conflict known as the Crusades.

People are less anxious

to sign up for crusading.

They were no longer convinced

that Islam was the implacable
enemy of Christendom.

Another reason
being the emphasis

on the God that Christ preached,

the loving God,
the God who forgives,

becomes much more important.

You are love.

You are charity.

You are our hope.

Francis died
seven years after Damietta.

Two years later, the Church
declared him a saint.

Loving.

Guide to the right path.

The all-forgiving.

The merciful.

The compassionate.

Al-Kamil ruled
for 20 more years.

His reign was marked by fairness
towards the Christians of Egypt.

He buried his mother
in the mausoleum

of a famous Muslim scholar
he studied as a boy.

Bloodshed and war didn't end

with the Sultan
and Saint Francis.

Angry dehumanizing words
spark violence today as before.

Transcending differences.

The road to peace runs through
the common humanity

that we all share.