Saladin

292 Pages·2009·2.88 MB·English

by  Abdul Rahman Azzam

Like Alexander or Caesar, the name of
Saladin carries a timeless quality. As
famous today as he was when he drove the
Crusaders out of Jerusalem, the historical
Saladin has dissolved into legend with each
generation's retelling of his story. Dante
placed him in the first circle of Hell with
the heroes of Troy and Rome; Rex Harrison
played him as a cad in the film King
Richard and the Crusaders. In Youssef
Chahine's epic film Saladin, he emerged as
a hero of Arab socialism, and he has even
made an appearance in an episode of
Dr Who. Today, Saladin's name continues
to resonate with Osama bin Laden, Saddam
Hussein and Colonel Gaddafi all, at one
stage, claiming to be his military and
spiritual heir.
But who was the real Saladin? To answer
this question, A. R. Azzam argues, it is
essential to appreciate the age Saladin lived
in. The Islamic world had been completely
transformed by the Sunni Revival in the 10th
and 11th centuries, the great intellectual
renaissance, which integrated the different
strands of Islamic thought under one
orthodox umbrella. Saladin was a child of
the Sunni Revival and the movement was
key to his extraordinary success - as it is to
any consideration of the background of
today's Middle East. In that sense, Saladin's
true greatness, Azzam contends, lay not on
the battlefield, as has commonly been
accepted, but in his spiritual and political
vision. An honest and guileless leader,
Saladin baffled his enemies by refusing to
play their political games and succeeded in
uniting an army from all parts of the Muslim
world. Although he was an outsider he
managed - almost seamlessly - to become
the most powerful man in Islam.
The first major biography of Saladin for
twenty years, A. R. Azzam's timely and
fascinating account is essential reading for
anyone interested in the medieval Crusades,
Islamic history and the origins of the
modern Middle East.

Saladin

Saladin
Dr A.R. Azzam
ii>
PEARSON
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First edition published in Great Britain in 2009
© Pearson Education Limited 2009
The right of Abdul Rahman Azzam to be identified as author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN: 978-1-4058-0736-4
British Library Catalo^uins in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalo^in^-in-Publication Data
'Azzam, 'Abd al-Rahman, Dr.
Saladin / A.R. Azzam. - 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4058-0736-4 (hardback)
1. Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, 1137-1193. 2. Egypt-Kings and
rulers-biography. 3. Egypt-Kings and rulers-Biography-Juvenile literature.
4. Syria-Kings and rulers-Biography. 5. Crusades. 1. Tide.
DS38.4.S2A93 2009
956'.0I4092—dc22
[B] 2008026385
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Contents
Glossary of Main Names viii
Map X
Prologue Separating the Man from the Myth 1
Chapter 1 The Weakening of the Abbasid Caliph and
the Sunni Revival 9
Disputes between Sunnis and Shiites 10
Building a new Sunni orthodoxy 14
Chapter 2 The Turning of the Tide 20
The arrival of the Crusades in Syria 22
The establishment of Saladin's father and uncle 25
The rise of Nur al-Din and the spread of madrasas 29
Chapter 3 The Young Saladin 36
The religious milieu in which Saladin grew up 37
The beginning of the Islamic counter-crusade 41
The education of Saladin 44
Chapter 4 The Battie for Egypt 51
The Fatimids: the sick man of the Nile 54
Shirkuh's campaign 62
The emergence of Saladin and the siege of Alexandria 66
CONTENTS
Chapter 5 The Unlikely Vizier 69
The death of Shirkuh and the appointment of
Saladin as vizier 73
The rise of al-Qadi al-Fadil 77
Chapter 6 Master of Egypt 82
The crushing of the Sudanese uprising and the
dismantlement of the Fatimid state 84
The establishment of Saladin's authority in Egypt 89
The introduction of Sunni orthodoxy to Egypt 91
Chapter 7 The Prize of Syria 98
The death of Nur al-Din and Amalric 100
The power struggle in Syria 106
Saladin marches into Syria, and the challenge
of Aleppo 109
Chapter 8 The Meddlesome Priest: Saladin and al-Khabushani 120
Madrasa building in Egypt 120
The relationship between Saladin and the ulama 125
The Sunnification of Egypt 132
Chapter 9 Saladin and the Leper King 137
Baldwin IV and the Kingdom of Jerusalem 137
Saladin's defeat at Mont Gisard 140
The death of Nur al-Din's son and the struggle
for northern Syria 148
Chapter 10 Sailing Close to Disaster: Saladin's Illness at Harran 157
The death of Baldwin IV 160
Saladin's march on Mosul 162
Saladin's illness 163
Saladin and al-Qadi al-Fadil: renewed vows 164
CONTENTS
Chapter 11 Victory at Hattin 168
Saladin gathers his army 170
Deliberations in the Franks' camp 172
The march to Tiberias 174
The capture of the True Cross 179
Saladin slays Reynald of Chatillon 182
Chapter 12 The Return of Jerusalem 184
The collapse of the Latin Kingdom 185
Saladin besieges Jerusalem 190
The triumphant entry into Jerusalem 191
Chapter 13 The Arrival of Richard 196
Conrad fortifies Tyre 196
The siege of Acre 200
The fragmentation of Saladin's army 204
The fall of Acre and the massacre of the 3,000 206
The march towards Jaffa 211
Saladin's defeat at Arsuf 214
Chapter 14 A Bitter Siege of Attrition: Saladin, Richard
and Jerusalem 218
The death of Taqi ul-Din 218
Saladin fortifies Jerusalem 223
The attack on Jaffa and the defiance of Richard 226
Peace negotiations and the departure of Richard 229
Chapter 15 Death in Damascus: Saladin's Last Days 232
The return to Damascus 233
Saladin's illness 234
Saladin's death and the mourning of the people 235
Saladin: an assessment 237
Notes 243
A Note on the Arabic Sources 259
Bibliography 261
Index 266