Saladin (c. 1137 – 1193)

Quick Summary

Saladin (c. 1137 – 1193) was a sultan and major figure in history. Born in Tikrit, Upper Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Saladin left a lasting impact through Ended the Fatimid caliphate and returned Egypt to Abbasid allegiance (1171).

Reading time: 28 min • Updated: 9/18/2026

Portrait of Saladin, Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, shown in turban and ceremonial robe, bearded face turned three-quarters, after twelfth-century eastern medieval iconography.

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Birth

1137 Tikrit, Upper Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq)

Death

March 4, 1193 Damascus, Syria

Nationality

Kurdish

Occupations

Sultan Military commander Vizier Dynasty founder

Complete Biography

Origins And Early Life

Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub was born around 1137 in Tikrit, on the Tigris, into a Kurdish family from the region of Dvin. His father, Najm al-Din Ayyub, commanded the town's fortress for the Seljuks; the family left shortly after his birth and entered the service of Imad al-Din Zengi, atabeg of Mosul. Saladin grew up in Baalbek and then Damascus, inside the Turco-Kurdish military elite that governed Syria. The sources show him trained in religious law, theology and Arab genealogy as much as in arms. Nothing in this provincial upbringing marked him out for power.

In The Service Of Nur Al Din

When Zengi died in 1146, his son Nur al-Din took over Syria and made war on the Latin states a political and religious programme at once. Saladin served in his entourage in Damascus alongside his uncle Asad al-Din Shirkuh. Between 1164 and 1169, Nur al-Din sent three expeditions into Egypt, where the Fatimid caliphate was collapsing and the Franks of Jerusalem were trying to gain a foothold. Saladin went reluctantly at first, according to his biographer Baha al-Din ibn Shaddad, and made his name there: in 1167 he held Alexandria against a combined Frankish and Egyptian siege.

The Vizierate And The End Of The Fatimid Caliphate

In January 1169 Shirkuh became vizier to the Fatimid caliph al-Adid; he died two months later. At roughly thirty-one, Saladin succeeded him — chosen, the chroniclers report, because he seemed the most pliable of the candidates. He proved otherwise. He broke up the Fatimid palace guard, placed his own men in key offices and governed Egypt in his own right while still invoking Nur al-Din's name. In September 1171 he had the Shia caliph's name replaced in the Friday prayer by that of the Abbasid in Baghdad: two centuries of Fatimid caliphate ended almost without resistance. Al-Adid died days later.

Unifying Egypt And Syria

Nur al-Din's death in 1174 left Syria to a child heir. Saladin marched on Damascus, which opened its gates, then spent twelve years subduing the Zengid principalities rather than fighting the Franks — a choice his Muslim rivals attacked bitterly, the historian Ibn al-Athir foremost among them. Aleppo fell only in 1183; Mosul acknowledged his overlordship in 1186. In the meantime he survived two Nizari assassination attempts, in 1175 and 1176. At the end of that patience, Egypt, Syria and Upper Mesopotamia obeyed a single ruler, and the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was encircled.

Hattin And The Recapture Of Jerusalem

On 4 July 1187, at the Horns of Hattin above the Sea of Galilee, Saladin cut the Frankish army off from its water and destroyed it in a single day. King Guy of Lusignan was captured and spared; Raynald of Châtillon, who had broken the truce by raiding caravans, was executed. The relic of the True Cross was taken. With no field army left, the kingdom's cities fell one after another. Jerusalem capitulated on 2 October after negotiations with Balian of Ibelin: the inhabitants were ransomed, many released without payment, and there was no massacre — a contrast chroniclers on both sides would set for centuries against the Frankish capture of 1099.

The Third Crusade

The fall of Jerusalem triggered the Third Crusade. The siege of Acre dragged on from 1189 until July 1191, when the city fell despite Ayyubid relief armies. Richard I of England beat Saladin at Arsuf on 7 September 1191, but twice turned back from marching on Jerusalem, unable to hold the city once taken. The two men negotiated through envoys for months and never met in person. The Treaty of Jaffa, on 2 September 1192, left the Franks a coastal strip from Tyre to Jaffa, kept Jerusalem in Muslim hands and guaranteed Christian pilgrims access to the holy places.

The Ruler And The Ayyubid State

Saladin was more than a war leader. He made Cairo a Sunni capital: Shafi'i and Maliki madrasas, the al-Nasiri hospital, a citadel begun in 1176 under his steward Qaraqush, and a wall meant to enclose Cairo and Fustat together. He governed by distributing provinces and revenues to his brothers, sons and nephews — a family state that outlived him as the Ayyubid dynasty and ruled Egypt until 1250. That division worked while he lived and broke his conquests apart as soon as he died.

Death And The Making Of A Legend

Saladin died in Damascus on 4 March 1193 of a fever, months after Richard's departure. Ibn Shaddad, who attended him at the end, records that he left neither estate nor treasury — a few dozen dirhams and one gold coin, not enough to pay for his funeral. He was buried beside the Great Umayyad Mosque, where his mausoleum still stands. His reputation for magnanimity, built by Frankish as much as Arabic accounts, made him an admired figure in Europe from the thirteenth century on: Dante placed him in Limbo among the virtuous pagans, Walter Scott turned him into a novel's hero. Twentieth-century Arab nationalism, and later Kurdish memory, each claimed him in turn.

Achievements and Legacy

Major Achievements

Ended the Fatimid caliphate and returned Egypt to Abbasid allegiance (1171)
Unified Egypt, Syria and Upper Mesopotamia under the Ayyubid dynasty
Won at Hattin (4 July 1187), destroying the field army of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem
Retook Jerusalem by negotiated surrender (2 October 1187), without massacring the population
Concluded the Treaty of Jaffa (1192), ending the Third Crusade while guaranteeing Christian pilgrim access
Founded madrasas and hospitals in Cairo and Damascus, and began the Cairo Citadel (1176)

Historical Legacy

Saladin left a state that fragmented quickly and a legend that never faded. The Ayyubids ruled Egypt until 1250, but the family partition he had organised broke his conquests apart as soon as he died. His real afterlife lies elsewhere: he is the figure through whom medieval Europe conceded that a Muslim adversary could be exemplary, and the one in whom the twentieth-century Arab world, and then Kurdish nationalism, looked for a model of unity. That double appropriation says less about the man than about the needs of those invoking him: recent scholarship, from Anne-Marie Eddé to Jonathan Phillips, works to separate the patient, calculating ruler of the chronicles from the chivalric hero of the novels.

Detailed Timeline

Major Events

1137

Born in Tikrit

Around 1137, into a Kurdish family in Seljuk service on the Tigris.

1169

Vizier of Egypt

On his uncle Shirkuh's death he becomes vizier to the Fatimid caliph al-Adid.

1171

End of the Fatimid caliphate

In September the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad replaces the Shia caliph in the Friday prayer.

1174

Takes Damascus

On Nur al-Din's death he seizes Damascus and begins unifying Syria.

1183

Aleppo submits

The Zengid capital of northern Syria surrenders after several campaigns.

1187

Hattin and Jerusalem

4 July: the Latin kingdom's army is destroyed at the Horns of Hattin. 2 October: Jerusalem capitulates by negotiated terms.

1191

Fall of Acre and battle of Arsuf

Acre falls in July; Richard I wins at Arsuf on 7 September.

1192

Treaty of Jaffa

2 September: the Third Crusade ends, Jerusalem stays Muslim and opens to Christian pilgrims.

1193

Dies in Damascus

4 March, of a fever; buried beside the Great Umayyad Mosque.

Geographic Timeline

Famous Quotes

“It is not the custom of kings to kill kings.” — said to Guy of Lusignan after Hattin, as reported by the Arabic chroniclers.

— Saladin

“Beware of shedding blood, for blood that is spilled never sleeps.” — advice to his son al-Zahir, recorded by his biographer Baha al-Din ibn Shaddad.

— Saladin

External Links

Encyclopædia Britannica – Saladin Wikipédia – Saladin

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Saladin?

Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (c. 1137-1193), a Kurdish commander who became vizier and then sultan of Egypt and Syria, founded the Ayyubid dynasty and defeated the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem at Hattin in 1187.

Was Saladin an Arab?

No. He was Kurdish, born in Tikrit to a family from the region of Dvin. He nevertheless ruled an Arabic-speaking state in the name of the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad.

How did Saladin retake Jerusalem?

By negotiation, not assault. Having destroyed the Frankish army at Hattin on 4 July 1187, he besieged a city without defenders and accepted the terms offered by Balian of Ibelin on 2 October: the inhabitants were ransomed, many freed without payment, and there was no massacre.

Did Saladin and Richard the Lionheart ever meet?

Never in person. During the Third Crusade the two rulers exchanged envoys, gifts and peace proposals — including a plan to marry Saladin's brother to Richard's sister — but no meeting took place.

Why does Saladin have a good reputation in the West?

Because Frankish chroniclers themselves recorded his clemency at Jerusalem in 1187, set against the massacre the crusaders committed in 1099. That reputation for magnanimity passed through European literature from Dante to Walter Scott, before the Arab and Kurdish worlds reclaimed him in the twentieth century.

Sources and Bibliography

Primary Sources

Bahâ’ al-Dîn Ibn Shaddâd, al-Nawâdir al-sultâniyya (Anecdotes sultaniennes)
Ibn al-Athîr, al-Kâmil fî l-ta’rîkh
Guillaume de Tyr, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum

Secondary Sources

Anne-Marie Eddé, Saladin
Malcolm Cameron Lyons et D. E. P. Jackson, Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War
Jonathan Phillips, The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin