The past is always alive, and the way in which people understand and present their past tells us much about their society and culture. The aim of this project was to investigate how Muslims in the medieval period saw themselves through close examination of their historical writings. In particular, it was to do three main things. First was to form the basis of a KAKENHI grant application to investigate the phenomenon of typology (the deliberate drawing of parallels between ancient, religiously significant occurrences and the present being described) in medieval Islamic historiographical works and establish the methodological, theoretical, and source bases for such an application. Second, it was to obtain digital copies of the relevant manuscript material for this project, held in libraries in the UK, in order to have access to all relevant sources. Thirdly, it was to produce a journal article that will act as a pilot study, on how Saladin’s campaigns against the crusaders (1187-1193) are compared to Muhammad’s battles against the pagans of Mecca, submitted to a top journal.