On October 2, 1187 – The Syrian Sultan Saladin captured Jerusalem. This ended 88 years of Crusader rule.
Yusuf Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub (or Saladin) (from Arabic: Saladin – the power of faith) was the sultan of the Saracens in Syria and Egypt in the second half of the 12th century.
He was born in 1137 to a Kurdish family in Tikrit, Iraq, and died on March 4, 1193 in Damascus, Syria. He remained in history as the leader of an Islamic conquest campaign, and later of the Muslim resistance against the expansion of the Crusader states in the Middle East. He is remembered in medieval Western European literature as the strongest and noblest opponent of the Crusaders. He gave his surname to the Ayyubid dynasty he founded.
Saladin became a unifying figure for the emirs. He led the troops of Islam in the Battle of the Hattin Hills (July 3-4, 1187), where he defeated the Crusaders, led by the King of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, who was captured in the battle. After this victory, Saladin headed for Jerusalem and besieged it. On October 2, 1187, the last defender of Jerusalem, Balian, surrendered the city after receiving a promise from the Muslim commander that Christians who had laid down their arms would be allowed to retreat to Acre. The Western world recognizes that the noble Saladin kept his word.
During the Third Crusade, Saladin encountered the crusading armies of King Richard the Lionheart and King Philip II near the city of Acre. During the battle, Saladin learned that Richard the Lionheart was ill and sent his doctors to help treat him, because it was worth helping a worthy opponent. Richard the Lionheart recovered, after which they reached a peace agreement, by which the Holy Land became accessible to pilgrims of all faiths.
Saladin died on March 4, 1193 in Damascus. After his death, the treasury did not have enough funds for his funeral - Saladin distributed all his wealth to the poor.
Saladin was buried in a mausoleum located in the garden of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. Emperor Wilhelm II donated a new marble sarcophagus to the mausoleum, but Saladin's body was not moved into it. Today, the mausoleum contains two sarcophagi: one - an empty marble one, and one - a wooden one containing Saladin's body.
Saladin is an idol of Saddam Hussein, who, like him, was born in Tikrit. During the dictator's rule, there was a cult of Saladin in Iraq.