emirates7 - Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty and the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. A key figure during the Third Crusade, he led the Muslim military efforts against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the peak of his power, Saladin's Ayyubid realm included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia.
In 1164, Saladin was sent to Fatimid Egypt alongside his uncle Shirkuh, a Kurdish mercenary commander, on the orders of the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din. Their mission was initially to support Shawar in becoming the vizier to the young Fatimid caliph al-Adid, but a power struggle emerged between Shirkuh and Shawar after Shawar's reinstatement. Saladin rose through the ranks of the Fatimid government, achieving military success against Crusader forces and gaining the favor of al-Adid. Following Shawar's assassination and Shirkuh's death in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin as vizier. As a Sunni Muslim, Saladin began to weaken the Fatimid regime and, after al-Adid's death in 1171, he dismantled the Isma'ili Shia Muslim Fatimid Caliphate, aligning Egypt with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate based in Baghdad.
Born in Tikrit, in present-day Iraq, Saladin's personal name was "Yusuf"; "Salah ad-Din" is an honorific title meaning "Righteousness of the Faith." His family, of Kurdish descent, originally came from the village of Ajdanakan near Dvin in central Armenia. Saladin was the son of a Kurdish mercenary, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, and his Rawadiya tribe had begun to assimilate into the Arabic-speaking culture by that time.
He died on March 4, 1193, in Damascus, Syria, during the Ayyubid Sultanate, at the age of approximately 55 or 56.
In 1164, Saladin was sent to Fatimid Egypt alongside his uncle Shirkuh, a Kurdish mercenary commander, on the orders of the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din. Their mission was initially to support Shawar in becoming the vizier to the young Fatimid caliph al-Adid, but a power struggle emerged between Shirkuh and Shawar after Shawar's reinstatement. Saladin rose through the ranks of the Fatimid government, achieving military success against Crusader forces and gaining the favor of al-Adid. Following Shawar's assassination and Shirkuh's death in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin as vizier. As a Sunni Muslim, Saladin began to weaken the Fatimid regime and, after al-Adid's death in 1171, he dismantled the Isma'ili Shia Muslim Fatimid Caliphate, aligning Egypt with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate based in Baghdad.
Born in Tikrit, in present-day Iraq, Saladin's personal name was "Yusuf"; "Salah ad-Din" is an honorific title meaning "Righteousness of the Faith." His family, of Kurdish descent, originally came from the village of Ajdanakan near Dvin in central Armenia. Saladin was the son of a Kurdish mercenary, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, and his Rawadiya tribe had begun to assimilate into the Arabic-speaking culture by that time.
He died on March 4, 1193, in Damascus, Syria, during the Ayyubid Sultanate, at the age of approximately 55 or 56.