A few years ago I did a paper on Qal'at Ar-Rabad, otherwise known as Castle 'Ajlun. It was built by a deputy of Saladin on the eastern bank of the Jordan River directly opposite the famous crusader castle Belvoir (Cochav Ha-Yarden). I have seen two reasons for the establishment of this castle. One, in the wikipedia link above, is the traditional one. According to the traditional explanation, the castle was primarily meant to protect against the external threat of Crusader expansion. Another reason, given by a Muslim contemporary historian, is that it was also meant to bring the Ajlun area under central control (before it had been controlled by the local bedouin) - i.e. to matain internal order in a crucial border region. Does anyone know which explanation is correct? Perhaps both are true?
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