al-Adid li-Din Allah, last Ubaydid caliph
Fourteenth and last Ubaydid caliph; Shirkuh then Salah al-Din viziered under him till the Abbasid khutba was raised in Muharram 567 while he lay dying — he passed on Ashura, his palace's hoards selling for ten years.
Reign · Fatimid Caliphate · no. 8 in the chain · 1160–1171 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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Ending the Ubaydid Khutba and Restoring the Abbasid Khutba in Egypt
Al-Imad al-Katib: Salah al-Din opened the year 567 with Egypt's greatest obedience — the Abbasid khutba, first Jumu'a at Fustat's mosque, the second at Cairo; al-Adid died that Ashura, and the palace's treasures sold for ten years. Shihab al-Din ibn Abi Asrun bore the news to Baghdad, and al-Imad wrote a general proclamation read across the lands of Islam — 'no minbar remains in those lands but the khutba for our lord al-Mustadi' is upon it'. Ibn al-Athir adds: Nur al-Din ordered it, Salah al-Din feared an Egyptian rising, and the Ajami called al-Amir al-Alim mounted the minbar before the khatib and prayed for al-Mustadi' — 'not two goats butted over it'. The khutba spread to Yemen, Barqa, Tawzar and Egypt to Aswan; Ibn al-Jawzi wrote his book al-Nasr ala Misr.
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Battle of al-Babein
Draft card for the Battle of al-Babein in 1167, the drawn battle of Shirkuh and the Crusaders in Upper Egypt; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place
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.
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The Frankish siege of Damietta (564 AH)
Safar 564 (Oct–Dec 1169): Frankish Syria, reinforced by fleets answering appeals to Sicily and al-Andalus, besieged Damietta fifty days; Saladin fed it men and money down the Nile while Nur al-Din loosed his raiders deep into the emptied Frankish lands — the besiegers withdrew to find their own country wasted, in Ibn al-Athir's proverb the ostrich that went out seeking horns and came back without ears.
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The Burning of al-Fustat, the Vizierate of Shirkuh, then Salah al-Din
In 564 the Franks came on Egypt in a great host, took Bilbays and besieged Cairo — its lord burnt al-Fustat for fear of them — then wrote Nur al-Din for aid. Shirkuh came, the Franks withdrew, al-Adid made him vizier — and he died sixty-five days later. His nephew Salah al-Din took his place, titled al-Malik al-Nasir, and served the sultanate as none could.
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Ibn Ṭufayl presents Ibn Rushd to the caliph
Between 1153 and 1169 Ibn Ṭufayl presented Ibn Rushd to the Almohad caliph Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf, who took to him and charged him with interpreting Aristotle.
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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.
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Asad al-Din Shirkuh's first expedition to Egypt
In 562 Nur al-Din sent Asad al-Din Shirkuh with two thousand horse to Egypt; camped at Giza, besieging two months, till its lord called the Franks who came through Damietta. Shirkuh withdrew to the Sa'id, beat a larger army killing Frankish thousands, levied the Sa'id's kharaj — while the Franks besieged Alexandria, taken by his nephew Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, four months till Shirkuh came and they withdrew to Syria.
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Siege of Alexandria
Draft card for the Siege of Alexandria in 1167, Amalric's siege during his Egyptian campaign; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Bilbeis
Draft card for Siege of Bilbeis; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Damietta (1169)
Draft card for the Siege of Damietta in 1169, King Amalric's joint Crusader–Byzantine attack on Fatimid Egypt; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Mahdia (1159–1160)
Draft card for Siege of Mahdia (1159–1160); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Salah al-Din Establishes the Shafi'i Judiciary in Egypt
In 566 Salah al-Din demolished a house of the shihna (the garrison prefect) in Egypt called Dar al-Ma'una, where people were held at will, and built it as a Shafi'i madrasa, removing the injustice practised there. He also built Dar al-Adl as a Shafi'i madrasa, dismissed the Egyptian judges, who were Shi'is, and appointed a Shafi'i chief judge over Egypt, who deputed Shafi'i judges in all the lands on the twentieth of Jumada II. Taqi al-Din Umar, Salah al-Din's nephew, bought the Manazil al-Izz in Egypt and built it as a Shafi'i madrasa.
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The battle of the Sudan between the two palaces
Dhu al-Qa'da 564 (1169): after Saladin executed Mu'tamin al-Khilafa — the Fatimid palace eunuch caught corresponding with the Franks — and set Baha al-Din Qaraqush over the palace, the Sudanese troops of Cairo, over fifty thousand strong out of solidarity, rose against the Salahiyya regiments and fought them between the two palaces; Saladin had their Mansura quarter burned over their families, they broke, took safe-conduct out of Egypt, and Turanshah destroyed the remnant at Giza — the end of the Fatimid army.