February 2, 2014
Al-Nasir Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi
He is King Al-Nasir Abu Al-Muzaffar Yusuf bin Ayyub bin Shadhi bin Marwan, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt and the Levant. He is a noble knight, a brave hero, and one of the best leaders known to mankind. His morals were attested to by his enemies among the Crusaders before his friends and biographers. He is a unique example of a giant personality created by Islam. He is the hero Saladin Al-Ayyubi, the liberator of Jerusalem from the Crusaders and the hero of the Battle of Hattin.
His upbringing
Saladin was born in Tikrit in 532 AH / 1138 AD to a Kurdish family. His father was the governor of Tikrit Citadel on behalf of Behrouz, and his uncle, Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, was one of the great commanders in the army of Nur ad-Din Zengid, the ruler of Mosul. Strangely, the birth of Saladin Yusuf ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub ibn Shadhi coincided with his father being forced to leave Tikrit, which made his father feel unlucky. One of the attendees said to him, "How do you know that this newborn will become a great and famous king?!"
Najm al-Din Ayyub migrated with his family from Tikrit to Mosul and stayed with Imad al-Din Zengi, who honored him. The child, Saladin, grew up in a blessed upbringing, where he was raised on honor, was raised on chivalry, trained on weapons, and grew up on the love of jihad. He read the Holy Quran, memorized the noble hadith, and learned what he could of the Arabic language.
Salah al-Din, Minister in Egypt
Before the arrival of Saladin, Egypt was the seat of the Fatimid Caliphate. At that time, Egypt was the prey of internal revolts between different sects, from Turkish Mamluks to Sudanese and Moroccans. The situation was unstable due to the turmoil caused by the succession of a large number of Fatimid caliphs in short periods, whose decisions were controlled by a series of ministers. The Crusaders coveted Egypt. When the commander Nur ad-Din Mahmud saw these dissensions and realized that the Crusader king of Jerusalem was greedy to occupy Egypt, Nur ad-Din Mahmud sent an army from Damascus to Egypt under the command of Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, assisted by his nephew Saladin. When the Crusaders learned of the arrival of Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, they left Egypt, and Asad ad-Din entered it. Saladin then succeeded him as its minister.
Conspiracies were hatched by self-interested and ambitious people, but Saladin overcame them as he overcame external seditions. Saladin saw the emergence of the Batiniyya in Egypt, so he established two major schools, the Nasiriyya School and the Kamiliyya School, to convert people to the Sunni school of thought, paving the way for the change he desired, until Saladin was completely in control of Egypt. After the death of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Adid in 566 AH / 1171 AD, Saladin urged the scholars to proclaim Al-Mustadi Al-Abbassi Caliph, to pray for him on Fridays and to deliver sermons in his name from the pulpits. Thus, the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt ended, and Saladin ruled Egypt as the representative of Nur al-Din, who eventually recognized the Abbasid Caliphate. Egypt returned to the fold of the Islamic Caliphate once again, and Saladin became the master of Egypt, with no one else having a say in it.
Founding of the state
Nur ad-Din Mahmud was still alive, and Saladin was afraid that Nur ad-Din would fight him, so he thought of looking for another place to establish a state for himself. Saladin began early on to send some of his entourage to investigate the situation in Nubia, Yemen, and Barqa.
Nur ad-Din Mahmud died in Shawwal 569 AH / 1174 AD, and the situation began to settle down for Saladin, who began working to unify Egypt and the Levant. Saladin began to head to the Levant after Nur ad-Din's death. He marched to Damascus and succeeded in quelling the revolts that had erupted in the Levant caused by the desire to seize Nur ad-Din's kingdom. He stayed there for nearly two years in order to restore stability to the government, annexing Damascus, then seizing Homs and then Aleppo. Thus, Saladin became the Sultan of Egypt and the Levant. He then returned to Egypt and began internal reforms, especially in Cairo and Alexandria. Saladin's authority expanded throughout the country, extending from Nubia in the south and Cyrenaica in the west to the lands of the Armenians in the north and the Jazira and Mosul in the east.
Saladin and Jihad
Saladin, may God have mercy on him, was filled with a love for jihad and passionate about it. It took over his entire being, so much so that Imam Al-Dhahabi said about him in Al-Seer: “He had a passion for establishing jihad and eliminating enemies, the likes of which had never been heard of anyone in the world.”
For this reason, may God have mercy on him, he abandoned his family, his children and his country. He had no inclination except towards him and no love except for his men. Judge Baha' al-Din says: "When a man wanted to get closer to him, he would urge him to fight in jihad. If he swore an oath that he had not spent a dinar or dirham after leaving for jihad except on jihad or on supplies, his oath would be true and upholdable."
Every man has a concern, and a man’s concern is proportional to his concerns. It is as if Ibn al-Qayyim, may God have mercy on him, was describing Salah al-Din when he said: “Bliss is not attained through bliss. Joy and pleasure are determined by enduring horrors and hardships. There is no joy for he who has no concerns, no pleasure for he who has no patience, no bliss for he who has no misery, and no rest for he who has no fatigue.”
Thus, Saladin's entire life was a struggle. He would return from one conquest to another, from one battle to another. Ibn al-Athir's biography of him in his book "Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh" took up more than 220 pages, all of them filled with struggle. The Battle of Hattin was one of his battles that was written with pens of light on pages of gold, and it was inscribed on the brow of history as a witness to all the meanings of struggle and sacrifice.
War with the Crusaders
While Saladin was expanding his influence in the Levant, he often left the Crusaders alone, postponing a confrontation with them, even though he was often aware of its inevitability. However, when a confrontation did occur, he usually emerged victorious. The exception was the Battle of Montgisard in 573 AH / November 25, 1177 AD. The Crusaders offered no resistance, and Saladin made the mistake of leaving his troops to scatter and pursue the spoils. The forces of Baldwin VI, King of Jerusalem, Raynald, and the Knights Templar attacked and defeated him. However, Saladin returned and attacked the Frankish states from the west, defeating Baldwin at the Battle of Marj Ayun in 575 AH / 1179 AD, and again the following year at the Battle of Jacob's Bay. A truce was then established between the Crusaders and Saladin in 576 AH / 1180 AD.
However, the Crusader raids returned, prompting Saladin to respond. Raynald was harassing trade and Muslim pilgrims with his fleet in the Red Sea. Saladin built a fleet of 30 ships to attack Beirut in 577 AH / 1182 AD. Raynald then threatened to attack Mecca and Medina. Saladin besieged the Karak fortress, Raynald’s stronghold, twice in 1183 AD and 1184 AD. Raynald responded by attacking Muslim pilgrim caravans in 581 AH / 1185 AD.
The conquest of Jerusalem
In 583 AH / 1187 AD, most of the cities and fortresses of the Kingdom of Jerusalem fell into the hands of Saladin. Saladin's armies then defeated the Crusader forces at the Battle of Hattin on Rabi' al-Akhir 24, 583 AH / July 4, 1187 AD. Following the battle, Saladin's forces and those of his brother, King al-Adil, quickly occupied almost all the coastal cities south of Tripoli: Acre, Beirut, Sidon, Jaffa, Caesarea, and Ashkelon. The communications of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with Europe were severed, and in the second half of September 1187 AD, Saladin's forces besieged Jerusalem. Its small garrison was unable to defend it against the pressure of 60,000 men. It surrendered after six days. On Rajab 27, 583 AH / October 12, 1187 AD, the gates were opened and the yellow banner of Sultan Saladin was raised over Jerusalem.
Saladin treated Jerusalem and its inhabitants much more leniently and leniently than the Crusader invaders had treated them when they wrested the city from Egyptian rule nearly a century earlier. There were no incidents of murder, looting, or destruction of churches. The fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem prompted Rome to begin preparations for a third crusade to reclaim Jerusalem, but it failed.
Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade
The conquest of Jerusalem prompted a third Crusade, financed in England and parts of France by a special tax known in the West as the Saladin tax. The campaign was led by three of the most powerful European kings at the time: Richard the Lionheart, King of England; Philip Augustus, King of France; and Frederick Barbarossa, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. However, the latter died during the journey, and the other two joined the siege of Acre, which fell in 587 AH / 1191 AD. Three thousand Muslim prisoners, including women and children, were executed. On September 7, 1191, Saladin's armies clashed with the Crusader armies led by Richard in the Battle of Arsuf, in which Saladin was defeated. However, the Crusaders were unable to invade the interior and remained on the coast. All their attempts to conquer Jerusalem failed. In 587 AH / 1192 AD, Richard signed the Treaty of Ramla with Saladin, under which he restored the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem to a coastal strip between Jaffa and Tyre. Jerusalem was also opened to pilgrims. Christians.
The relationship between Saladin and Richard was an example of chivalry and mutual respect despite their military rivalry. When Richard fell ill with a fever, Saladin sent him his personal physician, as well as fresh fruit and ice to cool his drinks. When Richard lost his horse at Arsuf, Saladin sent him two.
It is known that Saladin and Richard never met face to face and that communication between them was in writing or through messengers.
His death
Saladin was fifty-seven years old in 589 AH / 1193 AD, but the exhaustion and fatigue he experienced during his confrontation with the Crusaders had weakened his health. He stayed in Jerusalem until he learned of Richard the Lionheart's departure. He then turned to organizing the administrative affairs of the Palestine region, but work pressed him to march on Damascus. At the same time, the administrative problems and the accumulation of organizational tasks that he had accumulated during the four years he spent fighting necessitated the postponement of his visit to Egypt and the performance of the Hajj pilgrimage, and required him to exert great effort to compensate for the devastation of the wars. He spent his free time in discussions with scholars on religious matters, and sometimes went hunting. However, everyone who saw him in late winter realized that his health had collapsed. He began to complain of fatigue and forgetfulness, and was no longer able to receive people.
On the 16th of Safar 589 AH / February 21, 1193 AD, he was struck by a bilious fever that lasted for twelve days. He bore the symptoms of the disease with fortitude and calm, knowing that the end was near. On the 24th of Safar / March 1st, he fell into a coma. After the dawn prayer on Wednesday, the 27th of Safar / March 4th, while Sheikh Abu Jaafar, the imam of the class, was reciting the Qur’an before him, until he reached the verse: {He is Allah, other than whom there is no god, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed}, Saladin opened his eyes and smiled, his face lit up, and he heard him say: “True…” Then he went to his Lord in the Citadel of Damascus. The judge al-Fadil and the judge-historian Ibn Shaddad undertook his preparations, the preacher of Damascus washed him, the people gathered in the citadel, prayed over him and he was buried there, and grief spread among the young and old. Then his son, King al-Afdal Ali, sat for three days to mourn and sent letters to his brother al-Aziz Uthman in Egypt, his brother al-Zahir Ghazi in Aleppo, and his uncle al-Adil in al-Karak, and they attended. Then his estate was estimated and amounted to one dinar and thirty-six dirhams. He left no other money, fixed or movable, as he had spent most of his wealth on charity.
Although the state Saladin founded did not last long after his death, Saladin is considered in the Islamic consciousness the liberator of Jerusalem, and his character has inspired epics, poetry, and even the national education curricula of Arab countries. Dozens of books have been written about his life, and plays, dramatic works, and other works have been adapted. Saladin is still cited as an example of the ideal Muslim leader who decisively confronted his enemies to liberate Muslim lands, without compromising chivalry and noble morals.
From the book Unforgettable Leaders by Major Tamer Badr
He is King Al-Nasir Abu Al-Muzaffar Yusuf bin Ayyub bin Shadhi bin Marwan, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt and the Levant. He is a noble knight, a brave hero, and one of the best leaders known to mankind. His morals were attested to by his enemies among the Crusaders before his friends and biographers. He is a unique example of a giant personality created by Islam. He is the hero Saladin Al-Ayyubi, the liberator of Jerusalem from the Crusaders and the hero of the Battle of Hattin.
His upbringing
Saladin was born in Tikrit in 532 AH / 1138 AD to a Kurdish family. His father was the governor of Tikrit Citadel on behalf of Behrouz, and his uncle, Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, was one of the great commanders in the army of Nur ad-Din Zengid, the ruler of Mosul. Strangely, the birth of Saladin Yusuf ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub ibn Shadhi coincided with his father being forced to leave Tikrit, which made his father feel unlucky. One of the attendees said to him, "How do you know that this newborn will become a great and famous king?!"
Najm al-Din Ayyub migrated with his family from Tikrit to Mosul and stayed with Imad al-Din Zengi, who honored him. The child, Saladin, grew up in a blessed upbringing, where he was raised on honor, was raised on chivalry, trained on weapons, and grew up on the love of jihad. He read the Holy Quran, memorized the noble hadith, and learned what he could of the Arabic language.
Salah al-Din, Minister in Egypt
Before the arrival of Saladin, Egypt was the seat of the Fatimid Caliphate. At that time, Egypt was the prey of internal revolts between different sects, from Turkish Mamluks to Sudanese and Moroccans. The situation was unstable due to the turmoil caused by the succession of a large number of Fatimid caliphs in short periods, whose decisions were controlled by a series of ministers. The Crusaders coveted Egypt. When the commander Nur ad-Din Mahmud saw these dissensions and realized that the Crusader king of Jerusalem was greedy to occupy Egypt, Nur ad-Din Mahmud sent an army from Damascus to Egypt under the command of Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, assisted by his nephew Saladin. When the Crusaders learned of the arrival of Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, they left Egypt, and Asad ad-Din entered it. Saladin then succeeded him as its minister.
Conspiracies were hatched by self-interested and ambitious people, but Saladin overcame them as he overcame external seditions. Saladin saw the emergence of the Batiniyya in Egypt, so he established two major schools, the Nasiriyya School and the Kamiliyya School, to convert people to the Sunni school of thought, paving the way for the change he desired, until Saladin was completely in control of Egypt. After the death of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Adid in 566 AH / 1171 AD, Saladin urged the scholars to proclaim Al-Mustadi Al-Abbassi Caliph, to pray for him on Fridays and to deliver sermons in his name from the pulpits. Thus, the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt ended, and Saladin ruled Egypt as the representative of Nur al-Din, who eventually recognized the Abbasid Caliphate. Egypt returned to the fold of the Islamic Caliphate once again, and Saladin became the master of Egypt, with no one else having a say in it.
Founding of the state
Nur ad-Din Mahmud was still alive, and Saladin was afraid that Nur ad-Din would fight him, so he thought of looking for another place to establish a state for himself. Saladin began early on to send some of his entourage to investigate the situation in Nubia, Yemen, and Barqa.
Nur ad-Din Mahmud died in Shawwal 569 AH / 1174 AD, and the situation began to settle down for Saladin, who began working to unify Egypt and the Levant. Saladin began to head to the Levant after Nur ad-Din's death. He marched to Damascus and succeeded in quelling the revolts that had erupted in the Levant caused by the desire to seize Nur ad-Din's kingdom. He stayed there for nearly two years in order to restore stability to the government, annexing Damascus, then seizing Homs and then Aleppo. Thus, Saladin became the Sultan of Egypt and the Levant. He then returned to Egypt and began internal reforms, especially in Cairo and Alexandria. Saladin's authority expanded throughout the country, extending from Nubia in the south and Cyrenaica in the west to the lands of the Armenians in the north and the Jazira and Mosul in the east.
Saladin and Jihad
Saladin, may God have mercy on him, was filled with a love for jihad and passionate about it. It took over his entire being, so much so that Imam Al-Dhahabi said about him in Al-Seer: “He had a passion for establishing jihad and eliminating enemies, the likes of which had never been heard of anyone in the world.”
For this reason, may God have mercy on him, he abandoned his family, his children and his country. He had no inclination except towards him and no love except for his men. Judge Baha' al-Din says: "When a man wanted to get closer to him, he would urge him to fight in jihad. If he swore an oath that he had not spent a dinar or dirham after leaving for jihad except on jihad or on supplies, his oath would be true and upholdable."
Every man has a concern, and a man’s concern is proportional to his concerns. It is as if Ibn al-Qayyim, may God have mercy on him, was describing Salah al-Din when he said: “Bliss is not attained through bliss. Joy and pleasure are determined by enduring horrors and hardships. There is no joy for he who has no concerns, no pleasure for he who has no patience, no bliss for he who has no misery, and no rest for he who has no fatigue.”
Thus, Saladin's entire life was a struggle. He would return from one conquest to another, from one battle to another. Ibn al-Athir's biography of him in his book "Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh" took up more than 220 pages, all of them filled with struggle. The Battle of Hattin was one of his battles that was written with pens of light on pages of gold, and it was inscribed on the brow of history as a witness to all the meanings of struggle and sacrifice.
War with the Crusaders
While Saladin was expanding his influence in the Levant, he often left the Crusaders alone, postponing a confrontation with them, even though he was often aware of its inevitability. However, when a confrontation did occur, he usually emerged victorious. The exception was the Battle of Montgisard in 573 AH / November 25, 1177 AD. The Crusaders offered no resistance, and Saladin made the mistake of leaving his troops to scatter and pursue the spoils. The forces of Baldwin VI, King of Jerusalem, Raynald, and the Knights Templar attacked and defeated him. However, Saladin returned and attacked the Frankish states from the west, defeating Baldwin at the Battle of Marj Ayun in 575 AH / 1179 AD, and again the following year at the Battle of Jacob's Bay. A truce was then established between the Crusaders and Saladin in 576 AH / 1180 AD.
However, the Crusader raids returned, prompting Saladin to respond. Raynald was harassing trade and Muslim pilgrims with his fleet in the Red Sea. Saladin built a fleet of 30 ships to attack Beirut in 577 AH / 1182 AD. Raynald then threatened to attack Mecca and Medina. Saladin besieged the Karak fortress, Raynald’s stronghold, twice in 1183 AD and 1184 AD. Raynald responded by attacking Muslim pilgrim caravans in 581 AH / 1185 AD.
The conquest of Jerusalem
In 583 AH / 1187 AD, most of the cities and fortresses of the Kingdom of Jerusalem fell into the hands of Saladin. Saladin's armies then defeated the Crusader forces at the Battle of Hattin on Rabi' al-Akhir 24, 583 AH / July 4, 1187 AD. Following the battle, Saladin's forces and those of his brother, King al-Adil, quickly occupied almost all the coastal cities south of Tripoli: Acre, Beirut, Sidon, Jaffa, Caesarea, and Ashkelon. The communications of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with Europe were severed, and in the second half of September 1187 AD, Saladin's forces besieged Jerusalem. Its small garrison was unable to defend it against the pressure of 60,000 men. It surrendered after six days. On Rajab 27, 583 AH / October 12, 1187 AD, the gates were opened and the yellow banner of Sultan Saladin was raised over Jerusalem.
Saladin treated Jerusalem and its inhabitants much more leniently and leniently than the Crusader invaders had treated them when they wrested the city from Egyptian rule nearly a century earlier. There were no incidents of murder, looting, or destruction of churches. The fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem prompted Rome to begin preparations for a third crusade to reclaim Jerusalem, but it failed.
Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade
The conquest of Jerusalem prompted a third Crusade, financed in England and parts of France by a special tax known in the West as the Saladin tax. The campaign was led by three of the most powerful European kings at the time: Richard the Lionheart, King of England; Philip Augustus, King of France; and Frederick Barbarossa, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. However, the latter died during the journey, and the other two joined the siege of Acre, which fell in 587 AH / 1191 AD. Three thousand Muslim prisoners, including women and children, were executed. On September 7, 1191, Saladin's armies clashed with the Crusader armies led by Richard in the Battle of Arsuf, in which Saladin was defeated. However, the Crusaders were unable to invade the interior and remained on the coast. All their attempts to conquer Jerusalem failed. In 587 AH / 1192 AD, Richard signed the Treaty of Ramla with Saladin, under which he restored the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem to a coastal strip between Jaffa and Tyre. Jerusalem was also opened to pilgrims. Christians.
The relationship between Saladin and Richard was an example of chivalry and mutual respect despite their military rivalry. When Richard fell ill with a fever, Saladin sent him his personal physician, as well as fresh fruit and ice to cool his drinks. When Richard lost his horse at Arsuf, Saladin sent him two.
It is known that Saladin and Richard never met face to face and that communication between them was in writing or through messengers.
His death
Saladin was fifty-seven years old in 589 AH / 1193 AD, but the exhaustion and fatigue he experienced during his confrontation with the Crusaders had weakened his health. He stayed in Jerusalem until he learned of Richard the Lionheart's departure. He then turned to organizing the administrative affairs of the Palestine region, but work pressed him to march on Damascus. At the same time, the administrative problems and the accumulation of organizational tasks that he had accumulated during the four years he spent fighting necessitated the postponement of his visit to Egypt and the performance of the Hajj pilgrimage, and required him to exert great effort to compensate for the devastation of the wars. He spent his free time in discussions with scholars on religious matters, and sometimes went hunting. However, everyone who saw him in late winter realized that his health had collapsed. He began to complain of fatigue and forgetfulness, and was no longer able to receive people.
On the 16th of Safar 589 AH / February 21, 1193 AD, he was struck by a bilious fever that lasted for twelve days. He bore the symptoms of the disease with fortitude and calm, knowing that the end was near. On the 24th of Safar / March 1st, he fell into a coma. After the dawn prayer on Wednesday, the 27th of Safar / March 4th, while Sheikh Abu Jaafar, the imam of the class, was reciting the Qur’an before him, until he reached the verse: {He is Allah, other than whom there is no god, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed}, Saladin opened his eyes and smiled, his face lit up, and he heard him say: “True…” Then he went to his Lord in the Citadel of Damascus. The judge al-Fadil and the judge-historian Ibn Shaddad undertook his preparations, the preacher of Damascus washed him, the people gathered in the citadel, prayed over him and he was buried there, and grief spread among the young and old. Then his son, King al-Afdal Ali, sat for three days to mourn and sent letters to his brother al-Aziz Uthman in Egypt, his brother al-Zahir Ghazi in Aleppo, and his uncle al-Adil in al-Karak, and they attended. Then his estate was estimated and amounted to one dinar and thirty-six dirhams. He left no other money, fixed or movable, as he had spent most of his wealth on charity.
Although the state Saladin founded did not last long after his death, Saladin is considered in the Islamic consciousness the liberator of Jerusalem, and his character has inspired epics, poetry, and even the national education curricula of Arab countries. Dozens of books have been written about his life, and plays, dramatic works, and other works have been adapted. Saladin is still cited as an example of the ideal Muslim leader who decisively confronted his enemies to liberate Muslim lands, without compromising chivalry and noble morals.
From the book Unforgettable Leaders by Major Tamer Badr
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