His preaching was popular among the masses, but Ridwan, along with his Assassin advisors, were not willing to wage battle against the newly formed Crusader states.
He instigated a riot and destroyed the pulpit of the minbar in the private mosques of the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I Tapar and the Abbasid caliph.
In response, the sultan ordered Mawdud, the atabeg of Mosul, to come to Aleppo's aid, and Ibn al-Khashshab returned home.
He helped rid the city of the Assassins, including their leader Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh, by expulsion or execution.
When the Crusaders threatened the city of Aleppo again in 1119, Ibn al-Khashshab negotiated an alliance with Ilghazi of the Artuqid dynasty in northern Mesopotamia, and the Principality of Antioch was defeated at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis that year.