Sultan Salah al-Din Ayyubi Entered the capital of Zengid and United the Muslim World

 

Salah al-Din Ayyubi 

After the death of his master Nur al-Din, who captured almost all the cities of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Also, he wanted to conquer Jerusalem from the Christians but could not succeed and died in 1174. The Zengid princes of Mosul, Aleppo, and Damascus started fighting against each other over the legacy of Nur al-Din. Thereby  Salah al-Din had to take Syria under his control piece by piece and unite them with the respite of his Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt.

Salah al-Din was the descendent of Kurdish family and the son of Ayyub, one of the commanders of Zengi, a freed Turkish slave and one of the most prominent Emirs of Seljuks Sultan Melik Shah’s court. Later, Salah al-Din Ayyubi succeeded in founding the Ayyubid Dynasty in 1171, conquering Jerusalem in 1187 AD, and expanding his dominion from Egypt to East Asia in the east and Yemen to the south. Even before his death, Saladin divided his realm between his sons and his brothers.

Despite this, the Ayyubid rule was a period of cultural development. Their devotion to orthodox sunna Islam, their war against the shiʿites, and their concern for learning spread did not affect their tolerance toward Jews and Christians. Because Saladin opened Jerusalem to the Jews in 1190, the number of Jews in Ereẓ Israel increased under the Ayyubids. The Egyptian Jewry also benefited from the stable regime, and Jewish scholars from Christian countries settled in Egypt.

List of Ayyubid Sultans

Sultans of Egypt

1. Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub 1169–1193
2. Al-Aziz Uthman 1193–1198
3. Al-Mansur Nasir al-Din Muhammad 1198–1200
4. Al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr I 1200–1218
5. Al-Kamil 1218–1238
6. Al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr II 1238–1240
7. As-Salih Ayyub 1240–1249
8. Al-Mu'azzam Turan-Shah 1249–1250
9. Al-Ashraf Musa, Sultan of Egypt 1250–1254 (nominally, actually the Mamluk Aybak ruled)

Sultans and Emirs of Damascus

1. Salah al-Din ibn al-Ayyub 1174–1193
2. Al-Afdal ibn Salah al-Din 1193–1196
3. Al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr I 1196–1218
4. Al-Mu'azzam Sharaf al-Din Isa 1218–1227
5. An-Nasir Dawud 1227–1229
6. Al-Ashraf Musa 1229–1237
7. As-Salih Ismail 1237–1238
8. Al-Kamil 1238
9. Al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr II 1238–1239
10. As-Salih Ayyub 1239
11. As-Salih Ismail (2nd time) 1239–1245
12. As-Salih Ayyub (2nd time) 1245–1249
13. Al-Muazzam Turanshah 1249–1250
14. An-Nasir Yusuf 1250–1260

Emirs of Aleppo

1. Salah al-Din ibn al-Ayubbi 1183–1193
2. Az-Zahir Ghazi 1193–1216
3. Al-Aziz Muhammad 1216–1236
4. An-Nasir Yusuf 1236–1260