A016 - Saladin

 Saladin

Saladin (al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf) (Salah al-Din) (Yusuf Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub) (Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb -- “Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, Son of Job”) (b. 1137/38, Tikrīt, Mesopotamia [now in Iraq] — d. March 4, 1193, Damascus [now in Syria]).  Ayyubid ruler and Sultan of Egypt and Syria.  He was a Kurdish Muslim and led the Islamic opposition to the Third Crusade.

At the height of his power, the Ayyubid dynasty he founded, ruled over Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hijaz, and Yemen.  He led Muslim resistance to the European Crusaders and eventually recaptured Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.  As such, Saladin is a notable figure in Arab, Kurdish, and Muslim culture.

Saladin was a strict practitioner of Sunni Islam.  He did not maim, kill or retaliate against those whom he defeated, with the notable exception of certain events following the Battle of Hattin.  His generally chivalrous behavior was noted by Christian chroniclers, especially in the accounts of the siege of Krak in Moab.

Saladin came from a predominantly Kurdish background and ancestry.  His family lived in Tikrit, Iraq, where he was born during the Islamic world's Golden Age.  His father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, was banned from Tikrit and moved to Mosul where he met Imad ad-Din Zengi, the Turkish atabeg (regent) of Mosul.  At the time, Imad ad-Din Zengi, the founder of the Zengid dynasty, was also the leader of Muslim forces against the Crusaders in Edessa.  Imad ad-Din Zengi appointed Najm ad-Din as the commander of his fortress in Baalbek.   After the death of Imad ad-Din Zengi in 1146, his son, Nur ad-Din, became the regent of Mosul.  Saladin received his name from Nur ad-Din and was sent to Damascus to continue his education and this was where he also completed his educational studies.  Several sources claim that during his studies he was more interested in religion than joining the military.  Another factor which may have affected his interest in religion was that, during the First Crusade in 1099, Jerusalem was taken by force from the Christians by surprise when the Islamic world had done nothing to start the offensive.  Muslim culture and the city were pillaged.  Much of Muslim culture would lay in ruins for over one hundred years.  It would be Saladin who would later rebel against Christian-held Jerusalem to win back the city.  

The career of Saladin in the military began when his uncle Asad al-Din Shirkuh started training him.  Shirkuh was an important military commander under the emir Nur al-Din, who was the son and successor of Zengi.  Saladin accompanied Shirkuh during three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent its falling to the Latin Christian Crusaders who already ruled Jerusalem.  In 1154, Saladin went with his uncle Shirkuh to the court of the Zangid Nur al-Din Mahmud at Damascus, accompanied him on his military mission to Egypt in 1164, and again in 1168, when he withstood the siege of Alexandria by Amalric I, king of Jerusalem.  When the latter besieged Cairo, the last Fatimid Caliph al-‘Adid li-Din Allah sent for assistance to Nur al-Din, while his vizier Shawar negotiated with Amalric.  Shirkuh and Saladin were hailed at Cairo as rescuers, and Saladin had Shawar executed as a traitor.  The caliph appointed Shirkuh as vizier and, when the latter died after two months, he appointed Saladin as such and gave him the title “al-Malik al-Nasir.”

Saladin's aims were to secure power for himself and his family, to put down Shi‘ism and to fight the Crusaders to the utmost.  He attained these aims to a great degree. 

He put down a rebellion of the caliph’s black guards and in 1169 resisted the siege of Damietta by Amalric, who was assisted by a fleet from Constantinople and an auxiliary force from southern Italy.  In 1171, Saladin abolished the ineffective Shi'ite Fatimid caliphate and led a return to Sunni Islam in Egypt.  When the caliph died in 1171, Saladin had the 'ulama pronounce the name of al-Mustadi bi-Amr Allah, the Sunni -- and, more importantly, 'Abbasid -- caliph in Baghdad at sermon before Friday prayers (salat) instead of the name of the Shi'a Fatimid Caliph. Thus, the Fatimids and Shi‘ism came to an end in Egypt. 

Saladin effectively ruled Egypt, but officially as the representative of the Turkish Seljuk ruler Nur ad-Din, who himself conventionally recognized the 'Abbasid caliph.  Although he remained for a time a vassal of Nur ad-Din, and although their relationship became strained, the relationship only came to an end in 1174 when Nur ad-Din died.

After the death of Nur ad-Din, Saladin quickly used the emir's rich agricultural possessions in Egypt as a financial base.  He defeated the Normans of Sicily, who had landed at Alexandria, and captured an enormous booty.  He then turned his attention to Syria.

On two occasions, in 1170 and 1172, Saladin retreated from an invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.  These had been launched by Nur ad-Din and Saladin hoped that the Crusader kingdom would remain intact, as a buffer state between Egypt and Syria, until Saladin could gain control of Syria as well.  Nur ad-Din and Saladin were headed towards open war on these counts when Nur ad-Din died in 1174.  Nur ad-Din's heir, as-Salih Ismail al-Malik, was a mere boy in the hands of court eunuchs, and died in 1181.

Immediately after Nur ad-Din's death in 1174, Saladin marched on Damascus and was welcomed into the city.  He reinforced his legitimacy there in the time-honored way, by marrying Nur ad-Din's widow Ismat ad-Din Khatun.  Aleppo and Mosul, on the other hand, the two other largest cities that Nur ad-Din had ruled, were never taken but Saladin managed to impose his influence and authority on them in 1176 and 1186 respectively.  While he was occupied in besieging Aleppo, on May 22, 1176, the shadowy Ismaili assassin group, the Hashshashin, attempted to murder him.  They made two attempts on his life, the second time coming close enough to inflict wounds.

While Saladin was consolidating his power in Syria, he usually left the Crusader kingdom alone, although he was generally victorious whenever he did meet the Crusaders in battle.  One exception was the Battle of Montgisard on November 25, 1177, where he was defeated by the combined forces of Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, Raynald of Chatillon and the Knights Templar.  Only one tenth of his army made it back to Egypt. 

Saladin spent the subsequent year recovering from his defeat and rebuilding his army, renewing his attacks in 1179 when he defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Jacob's Ford, after which a truce was declared between Saladin and the Crusader States in 1180.  However, Crusader counter-attacks provoked further responses by Saladin.  Raynald of Chatillon, in particular, harassed Muslim trading and pilgrimage routes with a fleet on the Red Sea, a water route that Saladin needed to keep open.  In response, Saladin constructed a fleet of 30 galleys to attack Beirut in 1182.  Raynald threatened to attack the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.  In retaliation, Saladin twice besieged Kerak, Raynald's fortress in Oultrejordain, in 1183 and 1184.  Raynald responded by looting a caravan of pilgrims on the Hajj in 1185. 

Following the failure of his Kerak sieges, Saladin temporarily turned his attention back to another long-term project and resumed attacks on the territory of 'Izz ad-Din (Mas'ud ibn Mawdud ibn Zangi), around Mosul, which he had begun with some success in 1182.  However, since then, Mas'ud had allied himself with the powerful governor of Azerbaijan and Jibal, who in 1185 began moving his troops across the Zagros Mountains, causing Saladin to hesitate in his attacks.  The defenders of Mosul, when they became aware that help was on the way, increased their efforts, and Saladin subsequently fell ill, so in March 1186, a peace treaty was signed.

In July 1187, Saladin captured most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.  On July 4, 1187, Saladin faced at the Battle of Hattin the combined forces Guy of Lusignan, King Consort of Jerusalem and Raymond III of Tripoli.  In this battle alone, the Crusader army was largely annihilated by the motivated army of Saladin in what was a major disaster for the Crusaders and a turning point in the history of the Crusades.  Saladin captured Raynald de Chatillon and was personally responsible for his execution in retaliation for previously attacking Muslim pilgrim caravans.  Guy of Lusignan was also captured but his life was spared.  However, that night with uncharacteristic cruelty, Saladin ordered the execution of the hundred or so Templar and Hospitaller knights among the prisoners.  Because of their religious devotion and rigorous training, they were the most feared of the Christian soldiers.  Seated on a dais before his army, Saladin watched as the executions were carried out.

Saladin captured almost every Crusader city.  Jerusalem capitulated to his forces on October 2, 1187 after a siege.  Before the siege, Saladin had offered generous terms of surrender, which were rejected.  After the sieged had started, he was unwilling to promise terms of quarter to the European occupants of Jerusalem until Balian of Ibelin threatened to kill every Muslim hostage, estimated at 5000 and to destroy Islam's holy shrines of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque if quarter was not given.  Saladin consulted his council and the terms of the Crusader surrender were again offered.  Ransom was to be paid for each Frank in the city whether man, woman or child.  Saladin allowed many to leave without having the required amount for ransom for others.

Tyre, on the coast of modern-day Lebanon was the last major Crusader city that was not captured by Muslim forces (strategically, it would have made more sense for Saladin to capture Tyre before Jerusalem -- however, Saladin chose to pursue Jerusalem first because of the importance of the city to Islam).  The city was now commanded by Conrad of Montferrat, who strengthened Tyre's defenses and withstood two sieges by Saladin.  In 1188, at Tortosa, Saladin released Guy of Lusignan and returned him to his wife, Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem.  They went first to Tripoli, then to Antioch.  In 1189, they sought to reclaim Tyre for their kingdom, but were refused admission by Conrad, who did not recognize Guy as king.  Guy then set about besieging Acre.

Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem prompted the Third Crusade, financed in England by a special "Saladin tithe."  Richard I of England led Guy's siege of Acre, conquered the city and executed 3000 Muslim prisoners including women and children.  Saladin retaliated by killing all Franks captured from August 28 to September 10. 

The armies of Saladin engaged in combat with the army of King Richard I of England at the Battle of Arsuf on September 7, 1191, at which Saladin was defeated.  However, all attempts made by Richard I -- Richard the Lionheart -- to re-take Jerusalem failed.  Nevertheless, Saladin's relationship with Richard was one of chivalrous mutual respect as well as military rivalry.  When Richard became ill with fever, Saladin offered the services of his personal physician.  Saladin also sent him fresh fruit and fruit juice, with snow to chill the drink as treatment.  At Arsuf, when Richard lost his horse, Saladin sent him two replacements.  Richard suggested to Saladin that Palestine, Christian and Muslim, could be united through the marriage of his sister to Saladin's brother, and that Jerusalem could be their wedding gift.  Ironically, the two men never met face to face and communication was either written or by messenger.

As leaders of their respective factions, the two men came to an agreement in the Treaty of Ramla in 1192, whereby Jerusalem would remain in Muslim hands but would be open to Christian pilgrimages.  The treaty reduced the Latin Kingdom to a strip along the coast from Tyre to Jaffa.  This treaty was supposed to last three years.

Saladin died of a fever on March 4, 1193, at Damascus, not long after Richard's departure.  When they opened Saladin's treasury they found there was not enough money to pay for his funeral.  He had given most of his money away in charity.

Saladin is buried in a mausoleum in the garden outside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.  Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany donated a new marble sarcophagus to the mausoleum.  The body of Saladin, however, was not placed in it.  Instead, the mausoleum, which is open to visitors, now has two sarcophagi: one empty in marble and one in wood containing the body of Saladin.

Despite his fierce struggle against the crusades, Saladin achieved a great reputation in Europe as a chivalrous knight, so much so that there existed by the fourteenth century an epic poem about his exploits, and Dante included him among the virtuous pagan souls in Limbo.  Saladin is portrayed in a sympathetic light in Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman (1825).   Despite the Crusaders' slaughter of Muslims when they originally conquered Jerusalem in 1099, Saladin granted amnesty and free passage to all common Catholics and even to the defeated Christian army, as long as they were able to pay a ransom.  Indeed, Greek Orthodox Christians were treated even better, because they often opposed the western Crusaders. 

Notwithstanding the differences in beliefs, the Muslim Saladin was respected by Christian lords, especially Richard the Lionheart. Richard once praised Saladin as a great prince, saying that he was without doubt the greatest and most powerful leader in the Islamic world.  Saladin, in turn, stated that there was not a more honorable Christian lord than Richard.  After the treaty, Saladin and Richard sent each other many gifts as tokens of respect, even though they never met face to face.

In April 1191, a Frankish woman's three month old baby had been stolen from her camp and had been sold on the market.  The Franks urged her to approach Saladin herself with her grievance.  After Saladin used his own money to buy the child, he gave the child to its mother.  She took the child and with tears streaming down her face, she suckled the child to her breast.  The Muslim people watched her with her child and they wept.  The woman suckled the child for some time and then Saladin ordered a horse to be fetched for her and she went back to the Christian camp.

The name Salah ad-Din means "Righteousness of Faith," and through the ages Saladin has been an inspiration for Muslims in many respects.  Modern Muslim rulers have sought to commemorate Saladin through various measures.  A governorate centered around Tikrit and Samarra in modern day Iraq, Salah ad-Din Governorate, is named after Saladin, as is Salahaddin University in Arbil.  A suburb community of Arbil, Masif Salahaddin, is also named after him.

Few structures associated with Saladin survive within modern cities.  Saladin first fortified the Citadel of Cairo (1175-1183), which had been a domed pleasure pavilion with a fine view in more peaceful times.  In Syria, even the smallest city is centered on a defensible citadel, and Saladin introduced this essential feature to Egypt.

Among the forts Saladin constructed was Qalaat al-Gindi, a mountaintop fortress and caravanserai in the Sinai.  The fortress overlooks a large wadi which was the convergence of several caravan routes that linked Egypt and the Middle East.  Inside the structure are a number of large vaulted rooms hewn out of rock, including the remains of shops and a water cistern.  A notable archaeological site, it was excavated in 1909 by a French team under Jules Barthoux.

Although the Ayyubid dynasty he founded would only outlive him by fifty-seven years, the legacy of Saladin within the Arab World continues to this day.  With the rise of Arab nationalism in the Twentieth Century, particularly with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Saladin's heroism and leadership gained a new significance.  The glory and comparative unity of the Arab World under Saladin was seen as the perfect symbol for the new unity sought by Arab nationalists, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser.  For this reason, the Eagle of Saladin became the symbol of revolutionary Egypt, and was subsequently adopted by several other Arab states (Iraq, Palestine, and Yemen).

A brief chronology of Saladin reads as follows:

Saladin was born in Tikrit in Iraq, the son of the Kurdish chief Ayyub in 1138.  In 1152, he began to work in the service of the Syrian ruler, Nur ad-Din (Nureddin).

In 1164, he started to show his military and strategical qualities under three campaigns against the Crusaders who were established in Palestine, with the first campaign this year.

In 1169, Saladin served as second to the commander in chief of the Syrian army, his uncle Shirkuh.  Shirkuh became vizier of Egypt, but died after only two months.  Saladin then took over as vizier.  Despite the nominal limitations to the vizier position, Saladin took little regard to the interests of his superiors, the Fatimid rulers.  He turned Cairo into an Ayyubid power base, where he used Kurds in leading positions.

In 1171, Saladin suppressed the Fatimid rulers of Egypt, whereupon he united Egypt with the Abbasid Caliphate.  However, he was not as eager as Nur ad-Din to go to war against the Crusaders, and relations between him and Nur ad-Din became very difficult.

In 1173, Saladin sent his brother, Turan-Shah, to Yemen, which was subjugated.

In 1174, Nur ad-Din died, and Saladin used the opportunity to extend his power base.  Saladin defeated the Normans of Sicily, who had landed at Alexandria, and captured an enormous booty.  Saladin turned his attention to Syria, where he defeated the troops of Nur ad-Din’s son al-Salih Isma‘il (r. 1174-1181) at Qurun Hamat, but left al-Salih Isma'il in the possession of Aleppo and gave Hamat, Homs and Ba‘albek, which had surrendered, to relatives as fiefs.  In 1175, he was granted by the caliph rule over Egypt, Nubia, Yemen, North Africa from Egypt to Tripoli, Palestine and Central Syria.  After a final attempt by the Zangids against him in 1176, he made peace with them.  He was however unable to take the fortress of Masyad in central Syria from Shaykh Rashid al-Din al-Sinan, the leader of the Syrian branch of the Isma‘ilis and known to the West as “the Old Man of the Mountain.”  The latter promised Saladin that he would not attack him.

In 1175, the Syrian Assassin leader Rashideddin’s men made two attempts on the life of Saladin, the leader of the Ayyubids.  The second time, the Assassin came so close that wounds were inflicted upon Saladin.

In 1176, Saladin besieged the fortress of Masyaf, the stronghold of Rashideddin.  After some weeks, Saladin suddenly withdrew, and left the Assassins in peace for the rest of his life.  It is believed that he was exposed to a threat of having his entire family murdered.

In 1177, he met at Ramla the troops of Baldwin IV, reinforced by many Knights under the leadership of Raynald de Chatillon of al-Karak.  Saladin suffered a crushing defeat.  But the next year (1178)  he was able to defeat Baldwin, and again in 1179.  In the following years, he gained suzerainty over Mesopotamia. 

In 1183, Saladin signed a four years’ peace with Baldwin V, who was soon succeeded by Guy de Lusignan.  But when Raynald de Chatillon fell upon a large caravan and refused to give any satisfaction, fight became inevitable.

In 1183, Saladin conquered the important north Syrian city of Aleppo.

In 1186, Saladin conquered Mosul in northern Iraq.

In 1187, with his new strength, he attacked the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and after three months of fighting he seized control of the city.  On July 4, 1187, at the Battle of Hattin (Hittin), the Crusaders were utterly defeated.  Saladin gave Guy de Lusignan a friendly reception, but slew Raynald with his own hand, and hall the Templars and Knights of St. John executed.  He now was master of Palestine, including Tiberias, Nazareth, Samaria, Sidon, Beyrouth, Acre, Ramla, Gaza.  Hebron also fell into his hands, and on October 2, 1187, Jerusalem was conquered.  The inhabitants who could not pay the ransom were sold into slavery, but many were released at the intercession of Muslim and Christian persons of standing, as were a large number of poor people by Saladin himself.  Only Antioch, Tripolis, Tyre and a number of smaller towns and castles remained in the possession of the Christians.  At the siege of Tyre, Saladin suffered a severe reverse.  He had Acre rebuilt, and in 1188 went to Damascus from where he captured many places.

In 1189, a third Crusade managed to enlarge the coastal area of Palestine, while Jerusalem remained under Saladin’s control.

In 1192, with The Peace of Ramla, an armistice agreement with King Richard I of England, a strip of land along the coast was defined as Christian land, while the city of Jerusalem remained under Muslim control. 

Saladin died of a fever on March 4, 1193, at Damascus, not long after Richard's departure.

Since Saladin had given most of his possessions and money away for charity, when they opened his treasury, they found there was not enough money to pay for his funeral.

Saladin was buried in a mausoleum in the garden outside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.

Seven centuries later, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany donated a new marble sarcophagus to the mausoleum. Saladin was, however, not placed in it. Instead the mausoleum, which is open to visitors, now has two sarcophagi: one, empty made of marble and the original, which holds Saladin, which is made of wood. The reason why Saladin was not placed in the tomb was most likely respect and a desire to not disturb his body.

According to Imad al-Din, Saladin had fathered five sons before he left Egypt in 1174. Saladin's eldest son, al-Afdal was born in 1170 and Uthman was born in 1172 to Shamsa who accompanied Saladin to Syria. Al-Afdal's mother bore Saladin another child in 1177. A letter preserved by Qalqashandi records that a twelfth son was born in May 1178, while on Imad al-Din's list, he appears as Saladin's seventh son. Mas'ud was born in 1175 and Yaq'ub in 1176, the latter to Shamsa. Nur al-Din's widow, Ismat al-Din Khatun, remarried to Saladin in September 1176. Ghazi and Da'ud were born to the same mother in 1173 and 1178, respectively, and the mother of Ishaq who was born in 1174 also gave birth to another son in July 1182.

His fierce struggle against the crusaders was where Saladin achieved a great reputation in Europe as a chivalrous knight, so much so that there existed by the fourteenth century an epic poem about his exploits. Though Saladin faded into history after the Middle Ages, he appears in a sympathetic light in Sir Walter Scott's novel The Talisman (1825). It is mainly from this novel that the contemporary view of Saladin originates. Despite the Crusaders' slaughter when they originally conquered Jerusalem in 1099, Saladin granted amnesty and free passage to all common Catholics and even to the defeated Christian army, as long as they were able to pay the aforementioned ransom (the Greek Orthodox Christians were treated even better, because they often opposed the western Crusaders). An interesting view of Saladin and the world in which he lived is provided by Tariq Ali's novel The Book of Saladin. Though contemporary views on Saladin are often positive, Saladin's qualities are often exaggerated, mainly under influence of the image created during the 19th Century.

Notwithstanding the differences in beliefs, the Muslim Saladin was respected by Christian lords, Richard especially. Richard once praised Saladin as a great prince, saying that he was without doubt the greatest and most powerful leader in the Islamic world. Saladin in turn stated that there was not a more honorable Christian lord than Richard. After the treaty, Saladin and Richard sent each other many gifts as tokens of respect, but never met face to face.

In April 1191, a Frankish woman's three month old baby had been stolen from her camp and had been sold on the market. The Franks urged her to approach Saladin herself with her grievance. According to Bahā' al-Dīn, Saladin used his own money to buy the child back:

In 1898 German Emperor Wilhelm II visited Saladin's tomb to pay his respects. The visit, coupled with anti-colonial sentiments, led nationalist Arabs to reinvent the image of Saladin and portray him as a hero of the struggle against the West. The image of Saladin they used was the romantic one created by Walter Scott and other Europeans in the West at the time, as Saladin had been a figure entirely forgotten in the Muslim world. This was mainly because of Saladin's short-lived "quasi-empire" and evident lack of commitment to religion, plus his eclipse by more successful figures such as Baybars of Egypt.

Modern Arab states have sought to commemorate Saladin through various measures, often based on the false image created of him in the 19th century west. A governorate centered around Tikrit and Samarra in modern-day Iraq, Salah ad Din Governorate, is named after him, as is Salahaddin University in Arbil. A suburb community of Arbil, Masif Salahaddin, is also named after him.

Few structures associated with Saladin survive within modern cities. Saladin first fortified the Citadel of Cairo (1175–1183), which had been a domed pleasure pavilion with a fine view in more peaceful times. In Syria, even the smallest city is centered on a defensible citadel, and Saladin introduced this essential feature to Egypt.

Among the forts he built was Qalaat al-Gindi, a mountaintop fortress and caravanserai in the Sinai. The fortress overlooks a large wadi which was the convergence of several caravan routes that linked Egypt and the Middle East. Inside the structure are a number of large vaulted rooms hewn out of rock, including the remains of shops and a water cistern. A notable archaeological site, it was investigated in 1909 by a French team under Jules Barthoux.

Although the Ayyubid dynasty that he founded would only outlive him by 57 years, the legacy of Saladin within the Arab World continues to this day. With the rise of Arab nationalism in the Twentieth Century, particularly with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Saladin's heroism and leadership gained a new significance. Saladin's liberation of Palestine from the European Crusaders was put forth as the inspiration for the modern-day Arabs' opposition to Zionism.

Moreover, the glory and comparative unity of the Arab World under Saladin was seen as the perfect symbol for the new unity sought by Arab nationalists, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser. For this reason, the Eagle of Saladin became the symbol of revolutionary Egypt, and was subsequently adopted by several other Arab states (Iraq, the Palestinian Territory, and Yemen).

Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf, al- see Saladin
Salah al-Din see Saladin
Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub see Saladin
Yusuf Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub see Saladin