he was sixty-eight at the time. After his death, some of his prominent successors such as Abu Ja’far al-Tahawi of Egypt and Abu Mansur al-Maturidi of Muslim Central Asia endeavoured to formulate a unified theology (kalam), which they hoped would be acceptable to Muslims of all backgrounds. From that day on, Ash’arism became the most dominant religious theology in the Muslim world.
THE TWELFTH CENTURY was one of the most difficult and chaotic periods in Muslim history. The unity of the Muslim ummah (global Muslim community) was shattered by incessant political rivalry and internal conflict. In the Islamic East, the once formidable Abbasid Caliphate and the Seljuk dynasty became politically very weak and were in power only in name. The same was true of the once-powerful Fatimid Kingdom of Egypt. In addition, the territories of the Islamic Fertile Crescent became divided and sub-divided into tiny fiefdoms, and their rulers frequently fought each other for political and military supremacy. To make matters worse, at the same time the Muslims also came under direct threat from a formidable foreign enemy, namely the Crusaders who had set out from Europe in order to subjugate the Islamic East. The Muslims were thus caught unprepared by the Crusaders, who captured a large stretch of Islamic territories on the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean. They then marched towards their biggest prize, al-quds or Jerusalem, the third sacred city of Islam. Of course, the bitterly divided Muslim rulers of the time had no answer to the might and firepower of the Crusaders who inflicted a crushing defeat on them by capturing Jerusalem and massacring its citizens en masse. At a time when the Muslims found themselves hopelessly out-played and out-manoeuvred by the Crusaders, the legendary Sultan Salah al-Din emerged to restore the battered pride and prestige of the Muslim ummah.
Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known in the Western world as Saladin, was born in Tikrit in modern Iraq. Of Kurdish origin, his family originally hailed from the Central Asian country of Armenia. After settling in the territory which now includes northern Iraq, parts of Turkey and Syria, the members of the Ayyub family became prominent citizens of their locality. Both Salah al-Din’s father and uncle became distinguished members of Sultan Imad al-Din Zangi’s political and civil administration. In the year Salah al-Din was born, his father Najm al-Din Ayyub was appointed governor of the ancient city of Heliopolis (later renamed Ba’alabek and today located in Lebanon). Thus young Salah al-Din spent his early years in this ancient city. Since his father was a learned individual of Sufi (or Islamic mystical) orientation, he erected a Sufi lodge (zawiyyah) for his spiritually-inclined friends and acquaintances. During his early years, Salah al-Din learned the Qur’an and received a thorough training in traditional Islamic sciences, as well as Arabic grammar, literature and poetry.
Ayyub’s outstanding services to Imad al-Din, the reigning monarch, earned him considerable accolade but, following his patron’s sudden death, Ayyub’s family was forced to endure both political and economic hardship until he was persuaded by his brother, Asad al-Din Shirkuh (at the time in the service of Imad al-Din’s son and successor Nur al-Din Zangi), to co-operate with the new master of the Zangid dynasty. Ayyub agreed to help Nur al-Din consolidate his grip on power and Nur al-Din, in turn, rewarded Ayyub for his co-operation with the governorship of Damascus. At the time Salah al-Din was a teenager and spent the next decade (that is, from 1154 to 1164) at his father’s residence in Damascus. Being the son of the governor, he was held in high esteem by everyone; it is also related that during this period Salah al-Din became very fond of Nur al-Din on account of his personal piety and exemplary conduct and behaviour.
Impressed by Nur al-Din’s unflinching devotion to Islamic principles and practices, Salah al-Din also moulded his own character and personality in accordance with Islamic teachings. Indeed, his regard for Islamic principles, coupled with his scrupulous habits and sublime qualities, later earned him great acclaim both in the East and the West. Even his critics could not help but admire him for his unusual acts of kindness, generosity and tolerance. As a matter of fact, Salah al-Din disliked pomp and pageantry, and instead devoted much of his time to daily prayers and other devotional acts (ibadah). Like Nur al-Din, he led a simple and austere lifestyle, far removed from the luxuries and material pleasures of this life. Until the age of twenty-five, he led a normal life without showing any signs of the great man that he was to be. Having led an uneventful and relatively tranquil childhood and early adult life, he expected to pass smoothly into a restful old age, he suddenly found himself forced into the murky and dangerous world of global politics.
Struck down by a malady, Sultan Nur al-Din was confined to his bed. That is when Shirkuh, the uncle of Salah al-Din and commander-in-chief of Nur al-Din’s armed forces, approached the ailing Sultan for his permission to launch a military expedition against the subversive rulers of the Fatimid Kingdom of Egypt. After some hesitation, the Sultan authorised Shirkuh to lead an expedition against the Fatimids. During the ensuing campaign, Shirkuh – assisted by his nephew Salah al-Din – outmanoeuvred all his opponents, and assumed full control of Fatimid Egypt. Soon after capturing Egypt, Shirkuh died in 1169 without consolidating his grip on the country. Although Salah al-Din came with his uncle somewhat recluctantly – and was only too happy to let his battle-hardened and accomplished uncle make all the important decisions – now he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands and, in so doing, carve out a unique place for himself in the annals of history. Three days after Shirkuh’s death, the reigning Fatimid Caliph al-Adid asked Salah al-Din to succeed his uncle, and he conferred on him the title of al-malik an-nasir (or ‘the Supporting King’). He was only thirty at the time and his accession to power in Egypt made him a stronger, determined and wiser political operator, although he continued to lead a reclusive lifestyle far removed from the joys and pleasures of aristocratic life. According to his contemporaries, Salah al-Din’s personal life remained as simple as ever and he continued to devote long periods to prayer and contemplation. Devout and sagacious, he also worked tirelessly to unify the Muslim world under the banner of Islam and, in so doing, established a powerful empire in the Islamic East with the aim of liberating the sacred city of Jerusalem from the grip of the Crusaders. ‘When God Almighty granted me the land of Egypt’, Salah al-Din later recalled, ‘I was certain that Palestine would also fall to me.’
While Salah al-Din was busy planning to liberate Jerusalem from the Crusaders, the other Muslim rulers of the day were busy fighting each other in an attempt to increase their personal power and wealth. Then again, gifted men like Salah al-Din are not born every day; rather they emerge during critical times in human history and, by the sheer force of their character and personality, they change the course of world history. After becoming the ruler of Egypt, restoring the honour of Islam by driving out the Crusaders from Islamic Jerusalem became his main political objective. His unexpected success against the Crusaders firmly established his reputation as a great champion of Islam; he also became one of the most successful warrior-kings in the annals of history.
As al-malik an-nasir, Salah al-Din instigated wide-ranging reforms within the highest echelons of power in Egypt. By reshuffling the civil and administrative structures of his Government, he removed most of the corrupt, scheming and treacherous elements from his administration and replaced them with clean, honest and upright people. He then sent an invitation to his father, Ayyub, who at the time was living in Damascus, to come and join him in Egypt. Ayyub thus migrated to Egypt with his entire family, including his distant relatives and acquaintances. Surrounded for the first time by his close family members and friends, Salah al-Din at last became the undisputed ruler of Egypt. Needless to say, the consolidation of his grip on power in Egypt helped him to carry out further reforms, including the abolishment of the decadent Fatimid dynasty (accomplished after the death of the last Fatimid Caliph al-Adid) and the redistribution of all the wealth and properties the Fatimids had hoarded.
He divided this wealth into three portions, sending a share to the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad, another portion to Damascus for Sultan Nur al-Din and deposited the remainder in the public treasury (bait al-mal) for the welfare of the Egyptian people. Salah al-Din refused to keep anything for himself or his family. His kindness and generosity soon endeared him
