Saladin

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by A R 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

  i i >

  PEARSON

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  First edition published in Great Britain in 2 0 0 9

  © 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

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

  in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,

  mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without eidier the prior

  written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying

  in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd,

  Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London E C I N 8TS. This book may

  not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in

  any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published,

  without the prior consent of the Publishers.

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  Set by 35 in 10/14pt Galliard

  Printed and bound in China (SWTC/01)

  The Publisher's policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.

  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

  C O N T E N T S

  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
<
br />   Saladin's march on Mosul

  162

  Saladin's illness

  163

  Saladin and al-Qadi al-Fadil: renewed vows

  164

  C O N T E N T S

  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

  Glossary of Main Names

  Since some of the Muslim names can appear confusing and repetitive, this

  is a brief glossary which is by no means comprehensive but which attempts

  to distinguish between the names. Names which are distinctive and over

  which there can be no confusion (al-Khabushani for example) are omitted.

  In addition, the full names of the individuals are not included (Saladin's

  brother al-Adil's full name is Saif al-Din Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ayyub) since

  the main aim of the glossary is an aide-memoire, and the listing of the full name can add, rather than alleviate, confusion. The names of the most

  famous characters have also been simplified so, for example, throughout

  the name Zengi is used to refer to Nur al-Din's father and the founder of

  the Zengid dynasty. Although his full name was Imad al-Din Zengi, this

  was also the name of Nur al-Din's nephew and ruler of Sinjar. Similarly, Nur

  al-Din's other nephew Saif al-Din (the ruler of Mosul) was named after

  Nur al-Din's brother, Mawdud. So it is important not to confuse Saif al-Din

  ibn Mawdud ibn Zengi (Nur al-Din's nephew) with Saif al-Din ibn Zengi

  (Nur al-Din's brother). It is precisely to avoid such confusions that the

  names have been simplified as much as possible.

  Al-Adil, nl-Malik a-l-Adil Brother of Saladin

  Al-Afdal, d-Mctlik al-Afdal Saladin's eldest son

  Al-Qpidi al-Fadil Head of Saladin's chancery and

  one of his closest advisers

  Al-Sdlih ibn Nur d-Din Son and successor of Nur al-Din

  Al-ZMr, Abu Mansur Ghazi Saladin's son and his favourite

  Ayyub, Najm ctl-Din ibn Shadi Saladin's father

  GLOSSARY OF M A I N NAMES

  Fctrrukh-Shah, Izzal al-Din

  Saladin's nephew

  Ibn al-Athir

  Mosuli historian of Saladin

  Ibn al-Muquddam, Shams al-Din

  The man who invited Saladin

  into Syria, and later the governor

  of Damascus

  Ibn Mnsnl, Najm cil-Din

  Companion of Saladin and one

  of his supporters during the

  siege of Alexandria

  Ibn Shadda-d, Baha ul-Din

  Judge of Saladin's army and his

  biographer

  Imad al-Din al-Isfahani

  Nur al-Din and Saladin's

  secretary, and biographer of

  both men

  Imad al-Din Zengi

  Nur al-Din's nephew and ruler

  of Sinjar

  Ismat al-Din Khatun

  Wife of Nur al-Din and Saladin

  Ka-mal a-l-Din al-Shahmzuri

  Scholar, counsellor and qadi for

  Zengi, Nur al-Din and Saladin

  Keukburi, Muzaffar al-Din

  Married to Saladin's sister and

  one of Saladin's senior military

  commanders

  T^^asir al-Din Muhammad ibn Shirkuh Son of Shirkuh

  Qutb al-Din al-Nishapuri

  Religious scholar and Saladin's

  teacher

  Saif al-Din Ghazi

  Nur al-Din's nephew and ruler

  of Mosul

  Shirkuh, Asad al-Din ibn Shadi

  Saladin's uncle and vizier of

  Egypt

  Taqi ul-Din al-Malik al-Muzaffar

  Nephew of Saladin and one of

  his most trusted generals

  Turan Shah, al-Malik al-Muazzam Saladin's brother

  The Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099-1187

  Prologue

  Separating the Man

  from the Myth

  What is true in a, man's life is not what he does, but the legend which£!rows

  up around him.

  Oscar Wilde

  1 •^o understand the man we first must confront the legend. No historian

  can approach the task of writing about Saladin without first having to

  confront, acknowledge and ultimately dismiss the multitude of stories which

  have, over the centuries, enraptured readers but which have equally blurred

  the line between legend and evidence. This task, noble in intent, onerous

  to implement, is complicated by one simple fact: people prefer the legend.

  I was struck by this fact while researching and writing this book. AVhether I

  was in company of Muslims or non-Muslims, as soon as people found out

  about the subject of my book, I was regaled by anecdotes about Saladin.

  What was striking about those stories and anecdotes was that they were

  more often than not historically impossible, geographically improbable and

  factually inconceivable. At first with the zealousness of a new biographer

  I attempted to correct them; no, Saladin did not meet Richard, and no,

  he could not have had an affair with Richard's mother. But to my initial

  amazement and subsequent amusement I discovered that my comments

  were neither accepted nor welcome. But then again I myself had once fallen

  • 1

  SALAD I N

  in love with a fable. My first memory of Saladin was from a Ladybird book

  which, as a child, I had read and reread. One drawing had stood out in

  particular: Saladin and Richard wei'e standing side by side, and both men

  were demonstrating their strength. Richard struck an iron bar with tremen-

  dous force with his sword and the bar broke in two. Saladin, in return,

  threw a silk scarf in the air then gently sliced it as it landed. Years later I dis-

  covered that the two had never met, but the legend had served a purpose

  and an apocryphal story had captured my imagination and drawn me to

  search for a deeper historical truth.

  The liberator of Jerusalem, a chivalrous laiight, a generous benefactor,

  a political upstart - the character of Saladin has undergone so many trans-

  formations as each generation created him in its image. Lane-Poole saw

 
Saladin's chivalry towards the Christians as the 'good breeding of a gentle-

  man',' while Dante placed him in the first circle of Hell with the heroes

  of Troy and Rome. Rex Harrison played him as a cad, while, in Yusuf

  Chachine's 1963 epic film, he emerges as a hero of Arab socialism. Nothing,

  it seems, was spared, as Saladin even makes an appearance in a Dr Who tele-

  vision episode. The case of a military commander having his name used both

  for a battalion of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's army and for a

  battle tank of the British army is surely unique in history.^ So many Saladins.

  And even more tumble out of the drawers of history as we delve deeper

  through the centuries. A multitude of Saladins: chivalrous, patient, gener-

  ous, cruel. There is, it seems, a Saladin story to illuminate every sin to be

  found in the human soul, and for eveiy virtue there are two. That these

  fables bear no link to the historical character is irrelevant; Saladin was too

  valuable to be left to the historians. But Saladin did exist, and for the histor-

  ian such fables are irrelevant, at most a nuisance. And yet, such is the num-

  ber of sightings of Saladin's name in literature, art and popular media that

  it would be careless not to ask why. AVhy so many stories?

  Within months of his victory at Hattin and his conquest of Jerusalem,

  poems were being written in the West about Saladin. One particular anony-

  mous poem composed in 1187 represents as contemporary a Western view

  as possible. Focusing on Saladin's rise to power, it is unsparing in its vitriol.

  Saladin is illegitimate, of low rank, who rose to power by raping his master's

  wife and then took over Egypt by poisoning his master, Nur al-Din.^ This

  portrayal of Saladin is far away from the more familiar chivalrous one, with

  good reason. In 1187 Saladin was still alive and posed not just a formidable

  • 2 •

  P R O L O G U E : S E P A R A T I N G T H E MAN F R O M T H E M Y T H

  military threat but an ideological one. In 1187 the West was confronted by

  an enemy with an equally persuasive claim to the sacred and whose victories

  on the battlefield seemed, to the baffled Christians, to validate this claim.

  Could God really be on the side of the infidel? The loss of Jerusalem was a

  tremendous blow and one that had to be rationalised. In July 1187, for

  example, a letter from several German princes reached Emperor Frederick

 

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