AYYUBID DYNASTY

Sunnite Muslim dynasty, founded by Saladin (Salah ad-Din), that ruled over Egypt and what became upper Iraq, most of Syria, and Yemen in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Saladin's father, Ayyub (in full, Najm ad-Din Ayyub ibn Shadhi), for whom the Ayyubid dynasty is named, was a member of a family of Kurdish soldiers of fortune who in the 12th century took service under the Seljuq Turkish rulers in Iraq and Syria. Appointed governor of Damascus, Ayyub and his brother Shirkuh united Syria in preparation for war against the crusaders. After his father's death in 1173, Saladin displaced the Shi'ite Fatimid dynasty, further mobilized Muslim enthusiasm to create a united front against the Crusades, and made Egypt the most powerful Muslim state in the world at that time. The solidarity maintained under Saladin disappeared just before his death (1193): following his distribution of his territories among vassal relations who enjoyed autonomous internal administration of their provinces, the Ayyubid regime became a decentralized, semifeudal family federation. The strain of Frankish-Ayyubid relations was relaxed under the reigns of Al-'Adil and Al-Kamil, Saladin's brother and nephew; Jerusalem was restored to the Christians; and Ayyubid factionalism was quieted. With Al-Kamil's death (1238), however, old family disputes revived, and the Ayyubid decline ended in Mamluk accession to power in 1250. The Ayyubids, zealous Sunnite Muslims seeking to convert Muslim Shi'ites and Christians, introduced into Egypt and Jerusalem the madrasah, an academy of religious sciences. Culturally an extension and development of the Fatimids, the Ayyubids were great military engineers, building the citadel of Cairo and the defenses of Aleppo.