Saladin, properly known as Salah al-Dīn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (c. 1138
March 4, 1193), Sultan of Egypt and Syria, was a 12th-century
Kurdish Muslim political and military leader from Tikrit, Iraq. At
the height of his power, the Ayyubid dynasty he founded ruled over
Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hejaz, and Yemen. He is renowned for leading
Muslim resistance to the European Crusaders and eventually
recapturing Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. As
such, he remains a widely admired figure in Arab, Kurdish, and
Muslim culture.
History Extract
Saladin was born c. 1138 into a Kurdish family in Tikrit, Iraq and
was sent to Damascus to finish his education. His father, Najm
ad-Din Ayyub, was governor of Baalbek. For ten years Saladin lived
in Damascus and studied Islamic Theology, at the court of Nur
ad-Din (Nureddin). After an initial military education under the
command of his uncle, Nur ad-Din's lieutenant Shirkuh, who was
representing Nur ad-Din on campaigns against a faction of the
Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt in the 1160s, Saladin eventually
succeeded the defeated faction and his uncle as vizier in 1169.
There, he inherited a difficult role defending Egypt against the
incursions of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, under Amalric I.
His position was tenuous at first; no one expected him to last long
in Egypt where there had been many changes of government in
previous years due to a long line of child caliphs fought over by
competing viziers. With a Sunni Syrian powerbase he had little
control over the Egyptian army, which had been dominated by Shias
since the rise of the Fatimads, and which was led in the name of
the now otherwise powerless caliph Al-Adid.
When the caliph died, in September 1171, Saladin had the ulema
pronounced the name of Al-Mustadi, the Sunni and, more importantly,
Abbassid caliph in Baghdad, at sermon before Friday prayers;
authority simply deposed the old line. Now Saladin ruled Egypt, but
officially as the representative of Nur ad-Din, who himself
conventionally recognised the Abbassid caliph.
Saladin revitalized the economy of Egypt, reorganized the military
forces and, following his father's advice, stayed away from any
conflicts with Nur ad-Din, his formal lord, after he had become the
real ruler of Egypt. He waited until Nur ad-Din's death before
starting serious military actions: at first against smaller Muslim
states, then directing them against the Crusaders .
With Nur ad-Din's death (1174), he assumed the title of Sultan in
Egypt founding the Ayyubid dynasty and restoring Sunnism in Egypt.
He extended his territory westwards in the Maghreb, and when his
uncle was sent up the Nile to pacify some resistance of the former
Fatimid supporters, he continued on down the Red Sea to conquer
Yemen. He is also regarded as a Waliullah, a person religiously
close to God in the Sunni Muslim tradition.
Legacy
Though the Ayyubid dynasty 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 20th 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 taken as
the inspiration for the modern-day Arabs' struggle against 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. It was for this
reason that the Eagle of Saladin became the symbol of revolutionary
Egypt, and was subsequently adopted by several other Arab states
(Iraq, Palestine, and Yemen).
Burial
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. Saladin was, however, 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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin
