Saladin al-Ayyubi

Liberator of Jerusalem · Sultan of Egypt and Syria · 1137 – 1193 CE — Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadhi, the Kurd of the Rawādiya branch of the Hadhbanī tribe, was born in Tikrit and raised in Baalbek and Damascus. He is the greatest Muslim commander since the Caliph ʿUmar, and the founder of the Ayyubid state that ruled Egypt, Syria, the Hijaz, Yemen, parts of Iraq, and North Africa. He is the liberator of Jerusalem and an icon of chivalry in both Islamic and Christian memory.

Historical Overview

  • Rise to Power: Saladin began his career as a soldier in the army of his uncle Asad al-Din Shirkuh, vizier to Nur al-Din Zengi. He took part in three campaigns against Fatimid Egypt and was appointed vizier to the Fatimid Caliph al-Adid in 1169. Within two years he had ended the Shi'i Fatimid Caliphate (1171) and returned Egypt to Sunni Abbasid allegiance. After Nur al-Din's death in 1174 he declared himself an independent sultan, and within a decade had unified Syria and the Jazira through a combination of war and diplomacy.
  • Achievements: He unified a fractured Muslim front and built a standing army supported by Kurdish and Turkish Mamluks. He liberated Jerusalem after the decisive battle of Hattin on 4 July 1187 and entered the city peacefully on 2 October 1187 — in pointed contrast to the Crusader massacres of 1099. He rebuilt the Cairo Citadel (the Citadel of the Mountain), founded madrasas and bimaristans (hospitals), and endowed most of his wealth to learning and the poor.
  • Significance to the Kurds and Medes: Saladin is the Kurd who shaped the greatest moment of the medieval Islamic world and convinced the West that the East was not barbaric. In Kurdish memory he is proof that the Kurds are capable of leading the world, not merely of guarding their mountains. In world memory he is the very icon of chivalry — Dante himself placed him among the virtuous non-Christians in the Divine Comedy.

Timeline

  1. 1137 CE — His Birth: Born in the citadel of Tikrit to a Kurdish Rawādiya family of the Hadhbanī tribe.
  2. 1152 CE — Beginning of Military Service: He joins the army of Nur al-Din Zengi in Damascus.
  3. 1164 – 1169 CE — Egyptian Campaigns: Three campaigns with his uncle Shirkuh against the Crusaders and Fatimids.
  4. 1169 CE — Vizier of Egypt: Appointed vizier to the Fatimid Caliph al-Adid.
  5. 1171 CE — Fall of the Fatimids: The Friday sermon is read in the name of the Abbasid Caliph, ending two hundred years of Fatimid rule.
  6. 1174 CE — Proclamation of the Sultanate: After Nur al-Din's death he declares himself an independent sultan.
  7. 4 July 1187 — Battle of Hattin: The Crusader army is destroyed and Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, is taken prisoner.
  8. 2 October 1187 — Liberation of Jerusalem: He enters the city peacefully after eighty-eight years of Crusader rule.
  9. 1189 – 1192 CE — The Third Crusade: He confronts Richard the Lionheart; the war ends with the Treaty of Ramla, and Jerusalem remains in Muslim hands.
  10. 4 March 1193 — His Death in Damascus: He dies so poor that his estate cannot pay for his shroud; he is buried beside the Umayyad Mosque.

Battles & Achievements

  • Battle of Hattin (1187): The greatest Muslim victory of the medieval age. He encircled the Crusader army at the Horns of Hattin near Tiberias, cut off its water, and destroyed it in two days. The battle opened the gates of Jerusalem.
  • Liberation of Jerusalem (1187): A peaceful entry without massacre: Christians were allowed to leave in safety in exchange for a symbolic ransom, and churches and holy sites were protected.
  • Siege of Acre (1189–1191): The longest siege of the Crusader wars. Acre fell, but Saladin preserved the Muslim heartland.
  • Battle of Arsuf (1191): An open confrontation with Richard the Lionheart, marked by mutual respect — the two kings exchanged gifts and horses even in the midst of war.
  • Treaty of Ramla (1192): A historic agreement that kept Jerusalem in Muslim hands while granting Christians the right of pilgrimage — a model of tolerant Islamic diplomacy.
  • End of the Fatimid Caliphate (1171): A quiet political achievement that reunified the Sunni world before the great confrontation with the Crusaders.

The Ayyubid State

  • Cairo — The capital and the Citadel of the Mountain that he built.
  • Damascus — The Syrian capital and his burial place.
  • Jerusalem — The city liberated in 1187 — the heart of his achievement.
  • Hattin — Site of the decisive battle near Tiberias.
  • Acre — A coastal fortress, scene of the longest siege.
  • Aleppo — The last Syrian city to come under his authority, in 1183.
  • Tikrit — His birthplace on the Tigris.
  • Yemen — The Ayyubids' farthest southern extent, through his brother Turan Shah.
  • Cyrenaica / Libya — The western limit of Ayyubid influence.

Quotes & Legacy

  • Kingship lies not in the crown, but in justice. — A celebrated saying attributed to him at his court.
  • When a gift is brought to me, accept it — for I give more than I receive. — A remark on his legendary generosity.
  • Had I a thousand lives, I would lay them all down on the road to Jerusalem. — Spoken before the Battle of Hattin.
  • Give Richard a horse — it does not befit a king to fight on foot. — His famous gesture at the Battle of Arsuf.

LEGACY

  • Saladin transcends Islamic history to become a global icon. Statues of him stand in Damascus, Cairo, and Hewlêr. His name is invoked in every discourse on Kurdish dignity and Muslim unity. Napoleon, Walter Scott, and Ridley Scott have all woven him into their works. In Kurdistan, he is the standing answer to anyone who asks 'What have the Kurds given the world?' — they gave the man who restored Jerusalem with a justice that taught the world the meaning of chivalry.

SOURCES

  • Ibn Shaddad · al-Nawādir al-Sulṭāniyya wa'l-Maḥāsin al-Yūsufiyya · c. 1228 CE
  • Malcolm C. Lyons & D.E.P. Jackson · Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War · 1982 · Cambridge University Press
  • Anne-Marie Eddé · Saladin · 2011 · Harvard University Press