Salah al-Din, (known as Saladin in the West), was born in 1138 in Tikrit. His given name was Yusuf ibn Ayyub. Salah al-Din is a descriptive epithet, meaning Righteousness of the faith. His family was of Kurdish background and ancestry, originating from the village of Ajdanakan, which was near the city of Dvin, an Ararat Province of Armenia. Salah al-Din was raised a warrior, he learned how to wield a sword as a child, and cut his teeth in battle. Unlike the young men of today’s society who relate the passing of one’s prized possession from father to son a sign of becoming a man, Salah al-Din’s journey into manhood involved bloodshed. He began to make a name for himself under the guardianship of his uncle Asad al-Din Shirkuh, as an officer in the armies of the Abbasid Caliphate of Syria. Salah al-Din’s uncle died in March, 1169 and Salah al-Din was appointed Sultan of Egypt at the age of thirty-one. Although Salah al-Din had all the wealth of Egypt and Syria, he was not consumed by this at all. He preferred a small simple house to the caliph's palace and he gave away most of the contents of the palace to those less fortunate than him.Salah al-Din demonstrates not only to be a great leader in battle, but the accounts recorded by historians of the time, paint a beautiful picture of Salah al-Din. He led his people with fervor and respect. He displayed patience, kindness, self-control, wisdom, generosity, love, loyalty and above all humility. He genuinely cared for people as a whole despite religion or race. Salah al-Din was the most influential leader of the twelfth century.
'If God blesses us by enabling us to drive His enemies out of Jerusalem, how fortunate and happy we would be! For Jerusalem has been controlled by the enemy for ninety-one years, during which time God has received nothing from us here in the way of adoration.'
Salah al-Din
Salah al-Din