SALADIN (SALA ̄ H AL-DI ̄N YU ̄K SUF B.
AYYU ̄ B) (a.h. 564–589 / 1138–1193 c.e.)
Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin led military ventures
that won back for Islam much of the territory in the Holy
Land occupied by Western crusaders. Saladin was born
at Tekrit into a Kurdish family in service to ‘Im a ̄ d-al-Dı ̄ n
Zangı ̄ of Mosul; Saladin served ‘Im a ̄ d-al-Dı ̄ n’s son, Nu ̄ r
al-Dı ̄ n Emir of Syria. At this time, political and moral
authority was divided between, the F a ̄ timid caliphate of
Cairo and the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad; regions and
cities were held by independent warlords, and wide divi-
sions separated the general population from the military
men who wielded power. The crusader states, with their
small populations, represented an additional irritating
complication, a potential if not an actual threat.
After serving for ten years in Nu ̄r al-Dı ̄ n’s court at
Damascus, Saladin accompanied his uncle Shı ̄ rku ̄ h to
Egypt on an expedition, during which Shı ̄ rku ̄ h seized
effective power in Cairo in 1169; Shı ̄ rku ̄ h died almost
immediately, and Saladin succeeded him in command.
He played a dual role as F a ̄ timid vizier and as Nu ̄r al-
Dı ̄ n’s subordinate until the caliph’s death in 1171 and
Nu ̄ r al-Dı ̄ n’s in 1174. Saladin proclaimed himself sultan
of Egypt, with authority over Mesopotamia, and initi-
ated the Ayyu ̄ bid dynasty. Part of the rest of his career
was spent in a power struggle with the Zangids, in the
course of which he successfully established his power
in Syria, where he took Damascus and later Aleppo with
the aid of his brother Tu ̄ r a ̄ nsh a ̄ h. He failed, however, to
subdue the city of Mosul completely, or to win unquali-
fi ed approval from the Abbasid caliphs.
Saladin represented himself as the champion of
Islam against the crusaders, a role whose potentialities
had been developed by Nu ̄ r al-Dı ̄ n, and his intermit-
tent campaigns against the crusader states culminated
in the battle of Hattin (near Tiberias) in 1187, in which
he destroyed the fi eld army of the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem; he went on to capture Jerusalem and take
most of the crusader strongholds. Tyre, however, pro-
vided the crusaders with a base, and Saladin’s victories
prompted the calling of the Third Crusade in 1189, dur-
ing which the western armies were able only to capture
Acre. Although the engagements between Christian and
Muslim forces were to a degree politically indecisive,
they greatly infl uenced cultural life in the West owing to
the famous encounter between England’s King Richard
the Lionheart (r. 1189–1199) and Saladin. The sultan’s
ensuing reputation for generosity and chivalry earned
him a place of honor in medieval romance, and even
Dante located his soul in Limbo. The crusaders were not
strong enough to recapture Jerusalem but neither could
Saladin clear them from the coast. This stalemate led to
a truce in 1192, the Peace of Ramleh [Ramla], shortly
after which Saladin died.
During the late 1100s, trade was an important
source of revenue, which Saladin needed for his mili-
tary campaigns. The armament industry and the slave
trade fl ourished, and anecdotal evidence indicates that
trade routes remained open even while wars were be-
ing fought nearby, and that huge profi ts could be made
from military supplies (although risks of loss were also
high). During the Third Crusade (1189–1192) there was
considerable interference with Mediterranean shipping,
but Saladin enjoyed the benefi ts of an open trade route
between Egypt and India (via the Red Sea, thanks to the
extension of his control over Yemen).
Saladin unquestionably changed the pattern of Mid-
dle Eastern history, not so much because he established
his own dynasty (the Ayyu ̄ bids were short-lived) but,
immediately, because he gave the coup-de-grâce to the
ailing F a ̄ timid dynasty. He also made Europe aware that
retaining crusader states would involve enormous effort
and expense. As a corollary to this, he demonstrated
the increasing importance of an effi cient, if expensive,
professional army, which later contributed to the refi ne-
ment of the Mamluk system; this, arguably, led to a
profound change in the economic and social resources
of Egypt and Syria.
See also Dante Alighieri; Richard ISALADIN
Cristofano dell’ Altissimo (c. 1525–1605). Portrait of Saladin,
Sultan of Egypt. © SEF/Art Resource, New York.