At a glance
- Era
- The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Completeness 3/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
On screen
- Saladin the Victorious· Film, 1963 · About · historical drama
- Saladin: The Conqueror of Jerusalem· Series · About · historical drama
- Kingdom of Heaven· Film, 2005 · About · historical drama
- Saladin: The Animated Series· Animation · About · for children
Overview
Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known by the title al-Malik al-Nasir, nephew of Asad al-Din Shirkuh. Al-Maqrizi says he took the kingdom of Egypt after the Fatimid state ended, when the Ghuzz came in from Syria 3.
According to al-Maqrizi
Al-Maqrizi says that Salah al-Din wanted a wall to enclose Cairo, Misr and the Citadel together, and that Qaraqush extended Cairo's wall from Bab al-Qantara to Bab al-Sha'riyya and to Bab al-Bahr 4.
He says that after him Cairo was lived in by his son al-Aziz Uthman and then by his grandson al-Mansur Muhammad, then by al-Adil and al-Kamil, and that al-Kamil moved from Cairo to the Citadel 5.
According to al-Suyuti and Ibn al-Imad
Al-Suyuti says that he took Alexandria in 562 AH, became vizier of Egypt after his uncle in 564 AH, ended the Fatimid sermon in 567 AH, and ordered the building of the wall of Cairo, the Citadel and al-Shafi'i's tomb 6.
In the year 583 AH he took many of the Syrian lands, the greatest of them Jerusalem. He died in the year 589 AH, leaving no more money than one dinar and thirty-six dirhams 7.
Shadharat al-Dhahab says that he died in the year 589 AH, before reaching sixty years of age. He had sixteen sons and one daughter. It is said that he conquered sixty fortresses 8.
From Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's lecture series Al Dinu Al Qayem
Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy names Salah al-Din the Kurd among the non-Arab figures who advanced Islam 9. In a passage on those whom history remembers with honour for dying for what is true, he names Salah al-Din with al-Qa'qa' ibn Amr; this window is partly unclear 10 11.
He says al-Aqsa stayed under Crusader occupation for ninety-two years (needs_source), and reflects on the nation that nursed Salah al-Din 12.
He reads a sermon by a judge on Salah al-Din's conquest, which he describes as combining steadfastness, remembrance and gratitude to God, and which prays for "the just king Salah al-Din" 13. Among its prayers: that God grant victory to Salah al-Din, sultan of Islam and the Muslims, who cleansed al-Aqsa of the polytheists 14; that the land be opened by his hand as al-Aqsa was opened, and his command obeyed in East and West 15; and that he be given an everlasting kingdom in the abode of the righteous 16.
Connections
- Parent of
- al-Malik al-Muhsin ibn Salah al-Din· al-Malik al-Zahir Dawud ibn Salah al-Din
- Spouse of
- Ismat al-Din Khatun
- Sibling of
- Rabi'a Khatun bint Ayyub· Sayf al-Islam Tughrakin· Shams al-Dawla Turanshah ibn Ayyub
- Related to
- تقي الدين عمر بن شاهنشاه
- Participated in
- Ending the Ubaydid Khutba and Restoring the Abbasid Khutba in Egypt· the great battle at Acre — the sieges fiercest day· the Ayyubid shuffle — al-Adil to Aleppo, al-Aziz to Egypt· The scare over the conjunction of six planets in Libra in 582 AH· The battle of the Ford of Sorrows (Jacob's Ford, 575 AH)· Battle of Hattin· Saladin's Defeat at Ramla· Saladin's Conquest of Ayla· Death of Salah al-Din and his estate· Death of Salah al-Din at Damascus· death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place· Egypt army and fleet reach the Acre theater· The Franks take Acre and kill the captives· The plot to restore the Ubaydid da'wa and the crucifixion of its partisans· the Frankish schism — Count Raymond defects to Saladin· The Frankish siege of Damietta (564 AH)· The Burning of al-Fustat, the Vizierate of Shirkuh, then Salah al-Din· Hunin falls — the remaining fortresses of the Galilee· Kanz al-Dawla's revolt in Upper Egypt (570 AH)· the hidden estrangement between Nūr al-Dīn and Saladin· Prince Reynald's treachery — the Kerak lord breaks the truce· Saladin's first siege of Aleppo — the boy-king's speech and the Ismaili knives· Saladin takes the castle of Baʿrīn· Building the wall of Egypt and the Citadel· Saladin takes Homs and Hama· Salah al-Din recovers Jerusalem· Saladin's Karak siege — the rabd taken, the sixty-cubit ditch· Saladin takes Mayyafariqin· Salah al-Din takes the north and Aleppo in 578· Salah al-Din enters Damascus without fighting in 570· Salah al-Din's siege of Mosul and the settlement of Shahrazur in 581· Sayf al-Dīn besieges his brother ʿImād al-Dīn at Sinjār — then flees before Saladin· Shaqif Arnun — Beaufort falls· Shirkuh enters Egypt, Shawar is killed, and Shirkuh takes the vizierate· Asad al-Din Shirkuh's first expedition to Egypt· The Sicilian assault on Alexandria (569 AH)· Killing of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi in Aleppo, 587· the Mosul truce — Saladin and the atabeg Izz al-Din Masud· Salah al-Din Establishes the Shafi'i Judiciary in Egypt· Taqi al-Dīn routs Qilij Arslān's twenty thousand with a thousand horse· The battle of the Sudan between the two palaces
- Subject of
- Saladin the Victorious· Saladin: The Conqueror of Jerusalem· Kingdom of Heaven· Saladin: The Animated Series
People and things also explored
نور الدين محمود بن زنكي· Aleppo· al-Adid li-Din Allah, last Ubaydid caliph· أسد الدين شيركوه· عز الدين مسعود بن مودود· Cairo· Jerusalem· The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Sources
- Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 679-685
- Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 779-780
- Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa-l-i'tibar bi-dhikr al-khitat wa-l-athar (al-Khitat al-Maqriziyya), ed. Muhammad Zaynhum and Madiha al-Sharqawi (Cairo: Maktabat Madbuli, 1998) , p.290
- Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa-l-i'tibar bi-dhikr al-khitat wa-l-athar (al-Khitat al-Maqriziyya), ed. Muhammad Zaynhum and Madiha al-Sharqawi (Cairo: Maktabat Madbuli, 1998) , p.1000
- Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa-l-i'tibar bi-dhikr al-khitat wa-l-athar (al-Khitat al-Maqriziyya), ed. Muhammad Zaynhum and Madiha al-Sharqawi (Cairo: Maktabat Madbuli, 1998) , p.1001
- Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.679-685
- Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.690-693
- Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p.779-780
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 9, at 00:08:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 10, at 00:35:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 10, at 00:35:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 7, at 00:09:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 7, at 00:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 7, at 00:43:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 7, at 00:44:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Al Dinu Al Qayem, episode 7, at 00:44:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
- Wafayat al-A'yan wa-Anba' Abna' al-Zaman — Ibn Khallikan
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب الملك الناصر”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/salah-al-din-yusuf-ibn-ayyub/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.