death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place

وفاة أسد الدين شيركوه وولاية صلاح الدين

c. 1168 CE · 564 AH

Shīrkūh died days into his vizierate — said to have choked on the rich marrow he loved. Al-ʿĀḍid invested his nephew Saladin Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, the youngest of the emirs, because the Nūrid commanders had written recommending him: they saw his humility, his good conduct, his kindness to his companions ¹.

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In time

The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

In space

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Summary

Asad al-Din Shirkuh died a few days after he had taken up the vizierate. By order of al-ʿAdid, the robe of investiture was then conferred on his nephew Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub. He was the youngest of the Nuri amirs in age, and they had put him forward in their letters because they knew his humility, good conduct and kindness to his companions ².

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Had participant: Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub)· أسد الدين شيركوه· al-Adid li-Din Allah, last Ubaydid caliph
Occurred at: Cairo

People and things also explored

Shirkuh enters Egypt, Shawar is killed, and Shirkuh takes the vizierate· The Burning of al-Fustat, the Vizierate of Shirkuh, then Salah al-Din· Ending the Ubaydid Khutba and Restoring the Abbasid Khutba in Egypt· Asad al-Din Shirkuh's first expedition to Egypt· The battle of the Sudan between the two palaces· Saladin: The Conqueror of Jerusalem· Al-Azhar Mosque· The Dar al-Hikma of Cairo

Sources

al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p. 15
al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p.15

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/death-of-shirkuh-564/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Shirkuh enters Egypt, Shawar is killed, and Shirkuh takes the vizierate

In Rabīʿ I Shirkuh entered Egypt with the Nūrid armies and took it. The Franks had stormed Bilbays — killing and enslaving — then besieged Cairo while Shawar burned Fusṭāṭ (the fire ran fifty-four days) and bought their withdrawal for a promised million dinars; al-ʿĀḍid had sent his womenfolk's hair to Nūr al-Dīn begging rescue. When Shirkuh arrived Shawar was killed — as commonly told, Saladin's hand at his uncle's order — and Shirkuh took the vizierate, dealt justly with the people, then died days later, choked, it was said, on a feast of rich food.