HAVOC 145In 1163, Nuruddin sent Saladin's uncle off to conquer Egypt, just to keep
it out of Franj hands, and the general took along his nephew. The general
succeeded in taking Egypt, and then promptly died, leaving Saladin in
charge. Officially, Egypt still belonged to the Fatimid khalifa, but real
power belonged to his vizier, and the Egyptian court gladly accepted Sal-
adin as the new vizier, mostly because he was only twenty-nine years old,
and the courtiers thought his youth and inexperience would make him
their tool.
Saladin had indeed shown little hint of greatness while living in his
uncle's shadow. Retiring by nature and modest to a fault, he showed no in-
clination for war. As soon as he took charge of Egypt, Nuruddin told him
to abolish the Fatimid dynasty, and the order distressed him. The Fatimid
khalifa was a sickly twenty-year-old at this time, who didn't really rule any-
thing anyway. He was just a figurehead, and Saladin was loathe to hurt his
feelings. He obeyed his orders, but he abolished the khalifate so quietly,
the khalifa never even knew about it. One Friday, Saladin simply arranged
for a citizen to get up in the mosque and recite a sermon in the name of
the Abassid khalifa in Baghdad. No one protested and so the deed was
done. The frail young khalifa soon expired of natural causes without learn-
ing that he was a private citizen and that his dynasty had ended. His death
left Saladin as the sole ruler of Egypt.
Now came a series of nonencounters with his supposed boss. Nuruddin
kept arranging meetings; Saladin kept making excuses not to be there: his
father was sick, he himself was feeling under the weather-it was always
something. In truth, he knew that if he met his master face-to-face, he
would have to break with him, because he was already the bigger man,
king of a more powerful country, and incipient leader of the Muslim cause,
and he didn't want to quarrel about it. So he maintained the fiction that he
was Nuruddin's subordinate until the older man passed away. Then, Sal-
adin proclaimed himself king of Syria as well as Egypt. Some of Nurud-
din's followers cursed him then and called him a disloyal upstart and an
arrogant young fool, but they were swimming against history. The Muslim
savior had arrived.
He was a man of slight build, this Saladin. He had a pensive air and
melancholy eyes, but when he smiled, he could light up a room. Charita-
ble to the point of penury, he was humble with the humble, but majestic