⚔️ Saladin

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (1137-1193), known in the West as Saladin, was the greatest Muslim leader of the medieval era. A Kurd from Tikrit (modern Iraq), he united Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and the Hijaz under his banner. He founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led the jihad against the Crusaders. At the Battle of Hattin (July 4, 1187), he crushed the Crusader army. Three months later, on October 2, 1187, he recaptured Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader occupation. But Saladin was more than a military commander. He was a model of chivalry and nobility even in the eyes of his enemies. When he recaptured Jerusalem, he did not massacre Christians (as the Crusaders had done in 1099). He allowed them to leave for a symbolic ransom. He paid from his own pocket to free thousands of poor people. Richard the Lionheart — his mortal enemy — respected him to the point of legend. Dante in "The Divine Comedy" placed him in Limbo... alongside the great philosophers (not in the circle of the tormented!). He died in 1193 at age 56. In his personal treasury at the time of his death: one gold dinar and 40 silver dirhams. The commander who liberated Jerusalem... died poor.

⚔️ The Battle of Hattin: July 4, 1187

In the summer of 1187, Saladin assembled 30,000 soldiers. He marched toward Tiberias (northern Palestine). The Crusaders — led by Guy de Lusignan (King of Jerusalem) and Raymond III — mustered 20,000 soldiers. But they made a fatal mistake: they marched through a barren desert in the scorching July heat. Saladin cut off their water supply. He surrounded them at the village of Hattin. The weather was blistering hot. The Crusaders were thirsty, exhausted, their horses dying. On July 4, Saladin attacked. Four hours of fighting. The Crusaders were crushed. 17,000 prisoners (including the King of Jerusalem and the princes). The piece of the True Cross (the holiest relic in Christianity) fell into Muslim hands (never seen again). Reynald of Châtillon — Saladin's most bitter enemy — was beheaded by Saladin himself. The remaining prisoners (knights): sold as slaves. The price of a Crusader knight in the Damascus market after Hattin: 3 dinars (the price of a shoe!).

🕌 October 2, 1187: Jerusalem Returns

After Hattin, Crusader cities fell one after another: Acre, Jaffa, Beirut, Haifa, Nazareth. On September 20, Saladin besieged Jerusalem. The city was packed with refugees. The defense was led by Balian of Ibelin (one of the survivors of Hattin). He resisted for 12 days. But the walls were breached. Balian negotiated. He told Saladin: "If you do not grant us merciful terms, we will kill every Muslim and Jew in the city (5,000 people), destroy the holy sites (the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque), and then die fighting to the last man." Saladin — who wanted to save the Islamic holy sites — agreed to generous terms: every Christian could leave Jerusalem for a ransom: 10 dinars for a man, 5 for women, 2 for children. 7,000 poor people were freed for a lump sum of 30,000 dinars (paid by Saladin personally — he even sold his wife's jewelry!). By comparison: when the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they massacred all Muslims and Jews (70,000 people in two days). Saladin chose mercy.