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Zayn al-Din Ali ibn Naja

زين الدين علي بن نجا

Ali ibn Naja 'Ibn Najiyya', preacher and qadi — let into the Fatimid-restoration circle as its designated judge, he reported it to Saladin and was ordered to keep their confidence and feed him every new development until the plot and its Frankish correspondence were exposed and the leaders crucified 1.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
Scholar
Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Egypt & Nile
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Overview

Zayn al-Din Ali ibn Naja, the preacher and judge known as Ibn Najiyya. The conspiring Egyptians who sought to restore the Alid state brought him into their affair, and arranged for him the post of judge 1. He is among those who took part in the plot to restore the Fatimid state.

When he learned the truth of the matter, he told Salah al-Din, who ordered him to stay with them, agree with them, and inform him of what developed. He did so until the matter was uncovered, and the leaders were arrested, and they were crucified on the second of Ramadan in the year 569 AH. Ibn al-Athir reports that the judge al-Fadil had commissioned him to uncover the matter when he doubted the secretary Abd al-Samad 1.

Connections

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Participated in
The plot to restore the Ubaydid da'wa and the crucifixion of its partisans

People and things also explored

The Sicilian assault on Alexandria (569 AH)· Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub)· Umara al-Yamani· The plot to restore the Ubaydid da'wa and the crucifixion of its partisans

Sources

  1. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p. 53-54
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Zayn al-Din Ali ibn Naja”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/zayn-al-din-ibn-naja/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story. Related

The Sicilian assault on Alexandria (569 AH)

26 Dhu al-Hijja 569 (1174): answering the restoration plotters' letters, a Sicilian armada — two hundred troop-shinis, thirty-six horse-transports, six siege-train ships and forty supply vessels, fifty thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse under the Sicilian king's cousin — landed by the Pharos and set siege-towers against Alexandria's wall; the townsfolk and nearby iqta' troops held three days, burst out and burned the towers, and a rumour of Saladin's approach broke the Franks — the camp was stormed in the dark, the fleet fled under hull-piercing swimmers, and three hundred knights on a hill were finished by morning.