byname of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb
born 1137/38, Tikrīt, Mesopotamia
died March 4, 1193, Damascus, Syria
Kurdish sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine and founder of the Ayyūbid dynasty .
Though as a youth he preferred religious to military studies, he began his military career under his uncle, a military commander of the Zangid dynasty. On his uncle's death, Saladin became vizier of the Crusades . In 1187, turning his full strength against the Latin Crusader states , he captured Jerusalem , which had been in Christian hands for 88 years. Whereas the Christian conquest had been marked by slaughter, Saladin's troops demonstrated courteous and civilized behaviour. His victory deeply shocked the West and led to the call for the Third Crusade (1189–92), which matched him against {{link=Richard">Richard I (the Lionheart); their stalemate resulted in a peace that gave the Crusaders only a small strip of land from Tyre to Yafo (Jaffa). Many Muslims consider Saladin the paradigm of the pious and virtuous ruler.