Al-Malik al-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, or simply Saladin, was born in 1138 in present-day Tikrit, Iraq. As one of the sons of General Najm ad-Din Ayyub, of Kurdish origin, he spent his childhood in Damascus, at the court of Nur ad-Din, the ruler of Syria, after whose death he became the sultan of Syria and Egypt.
At the height of his power, Saladin ruled Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, but he was better known in the Western world as the Muslim ruler who provided the strongest resistance to the Crusaders and marked the beginning of the end of their conquests. The sultan earned such a reputation in Europe for his generosity and justice that legends, anecdotes, and songs circulated about him, and Dante included him among the virtuous pagan souls in Limbo in his Divine Comedy.
It is said that medieval knights learned the most about chivalry from Saladin because, thanks to both Christian and Arab biographers, he became the ideal of chivalry.
Coming to power
< The story of Saladin begins in the conflicts for dominance over the Egyptian Caliphate. Namely, the caliph al-Adid was underage and sickly, so during that period, about fifteen viziers alternated in governing the state. Christian rulers, seeing the internal instability, closely monitor the situation in Egypt, waiting for the right moment to seize it. That moment came in 1163 after vizier Shawar was overthrown from the throne. He turns to Nureddin for help, and Nureddin, who himself had ambitions for Egypt, sends an army led by military commander Shirkuh, Saladin's uncle. After two military expeditions and four years of maneuvering between Christian and Muslim armies, Shirkuh comes to the throne of the Egyptian caliphate. However, two months later, he suddenly dies, and the advisors of young caliph al-Adid propose Saladin as the new vizier. Among all the candidates, Saladin was the youngest and seemingly the weakest, and he was chosen precisely because they believed they could easily manipulate him. Thus, in 1171, he was proclaimed the new vizier. Saladin becomes the new vizier of the last Fatimid caliph and receives the title al-Malik al-Nasir - "the victorious king." Upon taking power, Saladin quickly adapts; he replaces distrustful officials with loyal ones and solidifies his rule by the end of the year. Nur ad-Din, however, dislikes this development as he senses that things are slipping out of his control. Additionally, he constantly pressures Saladin to overthrow the young caliph. Having direct insight into the political situation in Egypt, Saladin knows it's only a matter of time before the caliph succumbs to illness, so he doesn't want to unnecessarily complicate the situation. Shortly after the caliph al-Adid's death, the real power in Egypt falls into Saladin's hands. This intensifies his conflict with Nur ad-Din, who announces his campaign against Egypt. Saladin diplomatically calms the conflict and sends a message to Nur ad-Din, stating that there's no need for him to send an army, as two soldiers are enough to bring him bound by the neck to Damascus. This only serves to suggest Saladin calms Nuredin, who is still preparing for his campaign in Egypt in 1174, while Saladin simultaneously sends his brother to conquer Yemen to secure a retreat in case of Nuredin's attack. However, during the preparations for the campaign in Egypt, Nuredin is unexpectedly struck by death. Saladin, through diplomacy and a series of circumstances, managed to achieve what many of his predecessors had to acquire through the sword.
After Nuredin’s death, Saladin continues to rule on behalf of Nuredin’s underage son and successor, as-Saleh. Eventually, after gaining control over Syrian cities, Saladin proclaims himself the Sultan of Syria and Egypt. As-Saleh passes away at the age of eighteen after a few years, and thus, under Saladin’s leadership, a united state encompassing Syria and Egypt is formed. Although officially based in Egypt during his twenty-four-year reign, Saladin spent most of his time in Syria and Palestine, fighting against the crusaders.
Saladin, by nature, was not power-hungry, but he ascended to the throne at the right moment. He took the right steps. He always attributed credit for his achievements to God. Simple and humble, he would probably be satisfied with a much smaller role than the one destiny had planned for him.
In terms of physical appearance, Saladin was the opposite of the knightly archetype: he had dark skin, short stature, and a lean build, always with a neatly trimmed beard. He was prone to illness. In his interactions with people, he was kind, approachable, always cheerful and smiling. He spoke with the same simplicity to the learned as well as the uneducated. He was not hasty, but when he punished, he was consistent and unfailingly accurate. He was strict and just, but first and foremost towards himself. Despite being materially uninterested, Saladin has very little private property. The castles and palaces he acquired were mostly distributed among his relatives whom he put in high positions. Saladin’s generosity was a characteristic trait that people around him, whether Christians or Muslims, knew how to take advantage of. It would happen that Christian princes who sat at his table would receive lost castles and land from him. The same occurred during the siege of Jerusalem. Among the few passions he had, one was his love for horses – he was an exceptional horseman, and the other was his love for the opposite sex. However, state affairs always took precedence for him. Like his uncle Shirkuh, he preferred life in the saddle and in tents rather than on cushions in the court. In terms of food and clothing, he was simple, and in character, he was more similar to Roman Stoics than rulers of his time.
Conquest of Jerusalem
Having secured his rule, Saladin took on the challenge of the burning issue of that time. The eastern issue refers to the European conquerors in Palestine. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the Crusaders after the First Crusade in 1099, faced strong Islamic opposition. Until Saladin’s time, the Crusaders held control over the Holy City of Jerusalem for almost a century, and they would have kept it longer if not for strong opposition.
Saladin was naturally peaceful and always resorted to diplomacy when possible, with a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve. In 1180, he negotiated a truce and an agreement on free passage and trade with Christian rulers. At that time, the young Baldwin IV was the king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, suffering from leprosy. Throughout his reign, two factions fought for his inheritance: one led by Count Raymond of Tripoli, and the other by Count Raynald of Châtillon. Over time, the more fanatic faction led by Raynald gained dominance, and in 1186, after attacking a pilgrim caravan, he formally broke the truce. Saladin wasn’t disturbed by the events that had occurred. He sends messengers to gather an army and unites all available forces against the invaders. He knew that such an opportunity, when Christian rulers were divided and his subjects were united against Christians, wouldn’t present itself again, so he didn’t want to foolishly waste it. Despite opposition from his commanders, he decides to set a trap for the Christians. He conquers Tiberias but doesn’t proceed further with his army.
Underestimating the strength of the enemy, reckless Christian commanders raise an army and move towards the enemy. It was summer, with extreme heat, and the Arab army constantly attacked, not allowing them a chance to rest. It took them almost the whole day to travel a distance of about four hours. In unbearable heat, the Christian army set up camp on a hill above the village of Hattin just before sunset. Separated from drinking water and the lake, which was behind the Arab troops, they awaited the next morning, July 4th, 1187, when the historic Battle of Hattin took place. Tina. In that battle, the majority of the Christian military force in the East was destroyed, and Jerusalem needed to be defended.
On one side was Saladin’s army, numerous and highly motivated, and on the other side, a few hundred soldiers and a handful of knights led by Christian nobleman Balian of Ibelin. Namely, Balian managed to escape from Hattin after his side’s defeat and seek refuge in Tyre. However, his wife was in Jerusalem, and that summer he asked Saladin for permission to visit her. Knowing his opponent, he knew that Saladin could not say no to a man of honor. When he arrived in Jerusalem, since he was highly respected among the people, they begged him to stay and organize the defense of the city. Not wanting to break his word given to Saladin, he approached him, and the generous Saladin released him from his promise!
Saladin’s army surrounded the city and the battle began. The resistance was expectedly valiant but short-lived. Just a few days after the start of the fighting, the Arab army broke through the city walls at the same spot where the Christians during the first conquest of Jerusalem. Seeing that resistance was futile, Balian requested safe passage and negotiations with Saladin.
Saladin acted relentlessly. Before the battle started, he offered all the inhabitants free passage with all their belongings if they surrendered the city to him, and in return, he promised that all Christian holy sites would remain intact and that they could continue to visit and pray at them without hindrance. Now, after the battle was practically decided, he demanded unconditional surrender. Sultan’s recorders say that in a moment of helpless rage, Balian told Saladin that if he saw death as inevitable, he would kill all his children and women, set fire to all holy places, destroy the holy rock, kill and burn all the horses and anything of value, and that the conquerors would be left with nothing. After that, he said he would leave the city and fight until his last breath. Touched by Balian’s speech, even though he knew the battle was already resolved, Saladin relented and requested a ransom of ten dinars for each man. There were five hostages for women and one for children. Balian accepted, but he advocated for the poor, for whom this was a huge sum, so he requested that 7,000 of them be released for 30,000 dinars. The generous Saladin accepted this and on October 2, 1187, after 88 years of Christian rule, triumphantly entered the city.
The army received strict orders to respect the Christians and their holy sites. Unlike the Christian conquest, Saladin’s conquest is remembered for the strict enforcement of these orders. Saladin, as chroniclers write, did not want anyone to remember the conquest of the Holy City by the “faithful” due to the violation of the given promise.
Since a large number of the poor could not afford to pay the ransom, Saladin released all the elderly and disabled, the captured heads of families, and also bestowed gifts upon widows and orphans. The Jerusalem patriarch paid a ransom of ten dinars and took with him a larger amount of gold and valuables, gaining safe passage and armed escort all the way to Tyre.
The Third Crusade The conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders had a strong impact in the Christian world and sparked the Third Crusade. On the other hand, Saladin’s leniency resulted in Tyre becoming a new Christian stronghold for attempts to regain lost territories.
In this war, Christians succeeded in capturing the city of Acre and the coastal part of Palestine, but they failed to achieve their main goal – to reconquer the Holy City of Jerusalem. Saladin found a worthy opponent in Richard the Lionheart, the English king who was the main commander of the Christian army in the Third Crusade. Their battles, although sometimes very violent, always carried the spirit of chivalry. During the war, they engaged in lively correspondence through which they got to know each other well and gained mutual respect. Once, when Saladin saw that Richard had lost his horse in battle, he sent him a new one, and when Richard was wounded, Saladin offered the services of his personal physician. It was a relationship of mutual military rivalry, but also of respect. said: “Regarding your intention to spend the winter in the Holy Land, it is inevitable, because as soon as you leave, I will take back the land you have conquered, and it is even possible that I will take it back even if you stay… He continues: “Do you really desire to stay and spend the winter, two months away from your homeland and family, while you are still in your prime and can enjoy the pleasures of life… As for me, I can spend the winter here, then the summer, then another winter and then the summer, because I am in my own country, among my children and close people. Furthermore, I have one army for the summer, and another for the winter. I am already an old man who is only pleased to be alive. And so I will stay and wait until God once He did not grant us victory.
After this letter, a five-year peace was concluded. The Crusaders retained the conquered coastal strip from Tyre to Jaffa and recognized Saladin’s sovereignty over the rest of the country, with the condition that Christians were allowed free passage to the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Although the Crusaders would continue to unsuccessfully attempt to regain lost territories and restore the kingdom for another hundred years, they never recovered from the defeat inflicted upon them by Saladin, the “King of Victories”.
Arabs celebrate him as their hero, the one who united Muslims around a common goal – the conquest of Jerusalem, which was just as sacred to Muslims as it was to Christians and Jews. On the other hand, although he thoroughly thwarted the Crusaders’ plans in the Holy Land and was their fierce enemy, his name remained remembered in Europe for the determined resistance offered by Richard the Lionheart, but even more so for his nobility and humanity.
Shortly after Richard’s departure, Saladin dies on March 4, 1193, at the age of fifty. And five years old. He was buried in the garden of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, where his mausoleum is still located today, on the site where the Jupiter temple used to be, then a Christian church and now a mosque.