Saladin remembered – Arabnews

The great ruler Saladin — Salah Addin Al Ayyubi — the Iraqi born Kurdish Muslim was remembered in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Oct. 2 for liberating Jerusalem from the Crusaders on Oct. 2, 1187, titled “This day in history.” Saladin captured almost every Crusader city. Jerusalem capitulated to his forces after a siege. Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the city. His reign as Sultan of Egypt and Syria lasted from 1174 to 1193. Under his personal leadership, his forces defeated the Crusaders at the battle of Hattin, leading the way to his recapture of Palestine, which had been seized from the Fatimid Egyptians by the Crusaders 88 years earlier. Saladin was a prominent figure in Kurdish, Arab and Muslim world. He was a strict adherent of Sunni Islam. His noble and chivalrous behavior was respected even by the Christian chroniclers. 

He was a knight without fear or blame who often had to teach his opponents the right way to practice chivalry. Saladin died on March 4, 1193 at Damascus. At the time of his death he had in his possession one piece of gold and 47 pieces of silver. He had given away his great wealth to his poor subjects and there was none left to pay for his funeral. He was buried in the garden outside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. The glory and comparative unity of the Arab world under Saladin was seen as the perfect symbol. We saw an awakening for the new unity sought by Arab nationalists, such as by the late Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt but sadly its momentum died with his departure. — S.H. Moulana, Riyadh