# Salahuddin: The Legend Who Liberated Jerusalem | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Al-Aqsa - Past, Present, and Promise
**Published:** 2025-01-29
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/05sMMskLOpg
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/salahuddin-the-legend-who-liberated-jerusalem-al-aqsa
**Topics:** History

## Description
Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (rh) is one of the greatest heroes in Islamic history. How did he liberate Masjid al-Aqsa after nearly 90 years of the Crusaders’ occupation? Take a deeper dive into his story, including the early centuries of the Muslim rule in Palestine, the motivations of the Crusades, the...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi min ash-shaytani r-rajim bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen, wa la 'udwana illa 'ala adh-dhalimeen, wa al-'aqibatu lil-muttaqeen.

**[0:16]** Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik 'ala 'abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salAllahu alayhi wa sallam wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasleeman katheeran. I want to welcome you all back inshaAllah to our I think eighth session now on the history of Masjid Al-Aqsa. Bi-idhnillahi ta'ala tonight we're going to be speaking about the most legendary associated figure with Masjid Al-Aqsa and that is the liberator of Al-Aqsa, Salahuddin Al-Ayubi rahimahullah ta'ala, the great Sultan.

**[0:37]** And I'm going to preface the lecture tonight with a few things. Number one, alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen, we actually just recorded an extensive series on Salahuddin with Dr. Hassan Alwan hafidhahullah ta'ala and that inshaAllah ta'ala will be released after Ramadan on Yaqeen's YouTube channel and it is an extensive biography with beautiful maps and relics and representations and reflections bi-idhnillahi ta'ala that truly is gem filled. And so tonight is by no means meant to be the entire biography of Salahuddin Al-Ayubi rahimahullah ta'ala and as I said inshaAllah ta'ala once I complete this series my goal is to turn this into a book and in that book we will have a lot more of the smaller details because many names and maps and regions can get lost in the capacity of a talk like this. The second thing is that I want to dig into a question before we start with Salahuddin and it's always been interesting to me that when we talk about Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala and we talk about the regaining of Al-Quds, the regaining of Jerusalem, there's a question that is often not asked and that question is how did we lose Jerusalem in the first place?

**[1:24]** You see subhanAllah you have the glorious entrance of Sayyidina Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and then somehow 400, 500 years of history just disappears into thin air and we immediately start talking about the hero once again opening Jerusalem. It was understandable with Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu entering into Jerusalem in the glorious way that he did that Islam had dawned with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and this was a natural extension of the da'wah of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and a glorious prophecy fulfilled with the best of the companions of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.

**[1:59]** But what about Salahuddin and so I actually want to spend some time just talking about the few hundred years between Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu opening Jerusalem for the first time and then the reopening of Jerusalem by Salahuddin al-Ayubi rahimahullah ta'ala and it's almost a perfect set of events between 639 and 1039 and so you talk about these four centuries where significant things will happen that make Jerusalem that make al-Quds open to the vulnerability that allowed the Crusaders to sack it for the first time and so we come to the very beginning of Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu once again opening Jerusalem. He establishes the Umari pact that gives all sorts of assurances to religious communities that guards religious relics.

**[2:53]** The Sahaba relocate to Jerusalem many of them relocate to the areas of Palestine some of them will die there. Al-Quds becomes a hub of Islamic learning it becomes a place where Muslims around the world come as pilgrims and what makes Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu's pact so significant is that the system that he put into place in the 600s remains intact all the way until the Crusaders come and rupture it. Which shows you the beauty of it the coherence of it the consistency of it and the way that the Muslims for the most part upheld what Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu had said had set into motion. So the ihsan of Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu the excellence of Umar radiyaAllahu anhu still breathes through the city of Jerusalem.

**[3:43]** We come into the 700s and as Islam is spreading throughout the world you have of course Abdul Malik ibn Marwan building some of the most beautiful and prolific sites in the area of Al-Aqsa the dome of the rock Al-Walid ibn Abdul Malik expands some of what his father did in the courtyard of Al-Bayt Al-Muqaddis and as Jerusalem as Palestine is becoming this bustling center of Islamic scholarship something happens politically which is important and it's often underestimated. The Umayyad Caliphate was based in Ash-Sham because the Umayyad Caliphate is based in Ash-Sham there is naturally more emphasis on the architecture on the establishment on the infrastructure of the place that the Khilafah is in and so when the Abbasid Khilafah takes over the Abbasid Khilafah moves to Al-Iraq and when it moves the center of Islamic power to Al-Iraq and by the way this isn't about right or wrong I'm just talking about natural consequences of infrastructure and emphasis from a political perspective from an architectural perspective.

**[4:42]** When the Khilafah moves away from Ash-Sham there is naturally less emphasis that's going to be placed on some of the development of those areas. You come to the 900s and something extremely significant happens about a thousand years before the Crusaders are able to penetrate and to wreak the havoc that is historically documented. The Dawla of Al-Fatimiyah, the Fatimids, the Dawla of Al-Fatimiyah take over Jerusalem and Al-Dawla Al-Fatimiyah is an interesting establishment that many times we kind of gloss over in the history of Salahuddin. They are an extreme sect that emerges out of Shi'ism but even to mainstream Shi'as they are extreme. They are going farther away than what the majority of Shi'a would consider as orthodoxy within their school of thought and they are the makings of what would become the Ismaili school in terms of their creed. So if you study the Ismaili school then you can see the way that the creed itself is very different from the creed of what we know within Al-Islam.

**[5:48]** And with that expansion of this Dawla, so you still have the Abbasid Khilafah but you have a split, you have junctures. With their taking over Jerusalem they start to implement things that are foreign to the Muslim population, foreign to the people themselves and they quickly become a hated form of governance there in Al-Bayt Al-Muqaddis and they start to chip away at some of the holy sites especially to Ahl al-Sunnah because the idea is to direct things to a new doctrine, to a new creed. And so they are very difficult to deal with and Jerusalem naturally starts to feel, Al-Quds starts to feel some of the pressure of that leadership. You come into the year 1009 and particularly you have a man by the name of Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah who becomes the leader of that dynasty, the Fatimid dynasty and he is known as the crazy ruler, literally the Majnoon, a madman.

**[6:54]** He was a kid when he assumed leadership, very erratic, crazy, would gradually start to make more claims of divinity and SubhanAllah you almost start to see a complex where he pushes the boundaries every single year. Now why is he important to the story of the Crusaders? He does something that Umar did not do and naturally Umar has not looked that favorably by him in the first place, he's a hated figure and so the legacy of Umar is all over Al-Quds, the legacy of Umar is all over Jerusalem. He desecrates the holy sepulcher which Umar had of course maintained as a symbol of respect and that was deeply rupturing to the relationship between the Muslims and the Byzantines at this time and sends shockwaves through Europe. But he doesn't just desecrate Christian sites, he also bans Hajj because they see the Kaaba as not so sacred, they see what is happening in Mecca and Medina as taking away from their creed, so he also bans Hajj.

**[7:58]** So he's desecrating holy sites, he bans Hajj, at some point he even calls himself Al-Hakim Bi Amri, so instead of the one who commands by the will of God, he's the one who commands by his own will signifying a deification of himself and at some point he disappears. So he disappears from not just rule but he disappears period, so his death and the circumstance of his death are very mysterious. He's deified by some sects, so you'll see for example in some strains of the Druze, he's deified by them, he's looked at as a saintly figure, an interesting human being to say the least. The year 1039 after he disappears, the church is reconstructed, so that part of any type of rupture between the Muslims and the Christians or Islam and Christendom is made peaceful for the moment, right? At least there isn't a desecration of the site, at least the site is maintained as Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu had guaranteed.

**[9:16]** Now what happens to the Crusaders or how do the Crusaders start? And this is in fact one of the most important contexts to understand as to how we lost Jerusalem in the first place. Europe is plunging into full-on economic despair. So they have massive resource deficits, they have famines and plagues, they have population issues, there is much corruption with the elite class, so there is a full-on corruption of the way that wealth is distributed. So Europe is falling into all sorts of economic despair partly because of the corruption that is present within Europe. And in suffering that famine and that drought and the population is dwindling and resources are dwindling and you have mass corruption and bad distribution, you needed to find a way to turn this into a religious conflict, to turn this into some sort of holy war or righteous war on the Muslim world to justify what really was an attempt to rescue Europe from its economic despair. And many historians will say the same.

**[10:21]** That the true nature of the Crusades was more economic than it was religious. So it was as much about Antioch and Edessa as it was about Jerusalem. And in fact when you read about the fourth Crusade, it completely removes Jerusalem from the equation or it focuses entirely on the richest Muslim cities. So it focuses on Constantinople, Istanbul today, because the idea is to gain as much treasure and to gain the most accessible port in the Muslim world possible to where you can transfer riches back to the Crusader kingdom. And so the Venice and the Italian districts wanted the ports of Ash-Sham. Other European states were focused on China and India and the silk routes and the spices and the different ways that they could access the east and access Asia and access pathways to Africa. And they felt cut off by the Muslim world. And so Europe needs to pillage the Muslim world under a religious call in order to bring back prosperity to the failing Crusader kingdom.

**[11:29]** Everything that you see back then has a parallel today. Just read about the gas off of the coast in Gaza. There are going to be nefarious parties, malicious motives, even more malicious than the obvious malicious motives that will push certain parties to the table. And so the drums of war are being beaten in Europe against the Muslim ummah to pillage the Muslim world. And it is not because tensions have boiled to a point to where it's just become untenable between the two, between the Muslims and the Christians, and therefore we have to escalate this war. It's because Europe has economic woes primarily. Secondly, the Muslim ummah is in complete shambles. We always get in our own way. And SubhanAllah, you think of the hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, da'awtu rabbi, thalath. I made du'a to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for three things. Li thalath.

**[12:32]** I made du'a that Allah would protect us from famine. This ummah would not be wiped out by famine. Allah answered that. I made du'a that this ummah would not be wiped out by an external enemy. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala guaranteed us that. That as an ummah we won't be wiped out by anything external. But the third one, that there is no misfortune or that their misfortune does not come at their own hands due to their own disunity. Allah Azawajal did not give the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that because the ummah is responsible to maintain its own unity, its own cohesion, because Allah has already given us his habl. Allah has already given us his rope. That's your covenant. Hold on to the rope of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It's been extended to you as an ummah. When you hold on to it together, you're guaranteed greatness. The Muslim world was completely fractured and as a result of it being fractured, impotence.

**[13:45]** You have the Abbasid Khilafah in one place which is becoming a complete non-player. In global Muslim politics you have Al-Fatimiyah, which is heretical to a point that it does not represent at all anymore what the spirit of Islam was supposed to be. You have the Seljuks in Iraq. You have so many different places where different empires and different players are at play and this offers an opportunity for the crusaders to come in and to penetrate a divided weakened Muslim world that is busy with its internal feuds and its internal disputes. Those are the two major factors that lead to making a place like Jerusalem so vulnerable. And so I'm going to give you the names of some important figures. I want you to put yourself in Europe right now. The year is 1095, we're 400 years or so after Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu enters into Jerusalem.

**[14:52]** A man by the name of Pope Urban the second gives his famous speech at Clermont and you can look this speech up by the way, it's his most famous address. Pope Urban the second stands to initiate the crusades and as he initiates the crusades against the Muslim world, he describes the Muslims as the following. He describes them as a vile race, number one. Number two, accursed and alien to God. Number three, a generation wholly given to the service of demons. Number four, take arms against the barbarians not your brothers. And so you think about like all the marks of dehumanization that precede some of the most disgusting genocides in history. Just look at the man's speech. This is the Pope speaking. So you think about the religious justification and cover that's going to be given to the crusaders to wreak the havoc that we know on the Muslim world.

**[15:59]** They are looking at us as a vile race, accursed, foreign to God, alien and barbarians that should be fought instead of their brothers. On top of that we're in the service of demons and so a satanic pagan race. Now think about propaganda. I mean back then how many people in Europe had interacted with Muslims in their daily lives? Like you think about now how dehumanization becomes possible without interaction. Think about that world and the way that peoples were separate and how when you portray a people like that you give license to kill in an entirely different way. On top of that he calls on robbers to become knights, meaning we will release our prisoners and our most brutal people and send them out into battle. He calls on robbers to become knights. He offers full amnesty for any crime that's been committed so long as you go to the Muslim world and you fight against the Muslims and you serve in these crusades.

**[17:15]** He offers debt relief in response, open spoils of war, whatever you can collect in the battlefield collect it. It is yours and the last thing, the icing on the cake, full redemption of sin when you kill the pagans. And so whatever sins you have committed before will be gone when you enter into the Muslim world and when you serve in this holy war against the Muslim world. By the way when I say it's relevant and this precedes what will happen in Jerusalem, just read the papers of Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft and the Bush administration and the orders they were giving to the military before the invasion of Iraq. It was crusader language invoking specific references from the crusades and that's how you portray a people and that's how you dehumanize them and become inhumane yourself. What does that lead to and translate into? What is the introduction of the crusaders to the Muslim world before Jerusalem?

**[18:30]** The most significant one is what is known as the massacre of Ma'arrah. The massacre of Ma'arrah. This takes place in December of 1098 and it's around modern day Idlib. SubhanAllah when you think about all that Idlib has been through. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala see forth the entire liberation of our brothers and sisters and completion of their victory in Syria. Allahumma ameen. What they've been through. So the massacre of Ma'arrah is particularly as Ibn Al-Athir Rahimullah says, the most shocking incident of the crusaders entering into the Muslim world and really put on display their immorality. Like it became a legend the way that they acted in Ma'arrah became legendary in the sense of evil. It sent shockwaves that a people could do this. Now keep in mind this precedes the Mongols right. We're not even talking about the Tatar and what would come from them yet.

**[19:43]** So this was really really new to see the way that a people would behave especially while carrying crosses. Right, they're coming in the name of religion, plunging into the Muslim world with the flags of crosses, sanctioned by the Pope. And what did they do in Ma'arrah? Ibn Al-Athir says they massacred 30,000 civilians in cold blood. 30,000 Muslims, they put them to the sword in cold blood. If you look up, you know, this is what the... there are chapters in books called when the crusaders became cannibals. When the crusaders became cannibals. Because subhanAllah at this point what they unleashed of themselves in that process. You know we look at what the Zionists do in Gaza and we think how crazy are these people. Like how do they not see how beastly they have become in the process of making us into animals. How crazy and beastly have they become.

**[20:53]** You have to think about what the crusaders had in their mind about the Muslim world that was taught to them before they came to the Muslim world. And how that sanctioned beastly behavior that maybe was foreign to them before. And so Albert of the Franks, this is from their side. He writes that in Ma'arrah our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking pots. We boiled them in cooking pots. And we devoured grilled children on skewers. They ate the people. They cooked and they ate the people. And this was supposed to be a sign of their domination over the Muslim world. And in the process they had unlocked the evil, the true evil that was present inside of them. And what they planned to do with the rest of the Muslim world. As for the exploitation of women, as for what was done beyond murder.

**[21:55]** Our imagination can go to the worst of places because clearly they had no limits. And what they were willing to do to the Muslim world as they came into Ash-Sham, as they started to pillage the area. And then you come to Jerusalem. The sad thing about Jerusalem is that when you move to July 15th 1099. July 15th 1099. It only took them five weeks to take Al-Quds. Five weeks, a little over a month. And that's a sign of how weakened the Muslim world had become. How much we had relinquished the grip of glory that we had from the time of Sayyiduna Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And the barbarians of Ma'arrah, who were actually the crusaders, enter into Jerusalem. And you can imagine what they did. And by the way, it wouldn't just be against the Muslims. The Jews this time, whose side do you think they were on?

**[23:12]** Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was the one who brought them back after, remember the conflict that they had with Heraclius. Umar radiyaAllahu anhu settled their communities. The Jews were on the Muslim side. The Eastern Christians, historic Christian communities that were not under the Catholic Church were also alongside the Muslims. And whatever they were able to put up with in terms of a fight was insignificant in the face of these people. And so for the most part, people retreated to their holy places. And the crusaders went into Al-Aqsa. And they killed up to 70,000 Muslims as they entered into Jerusalem. They burned the Jews alive in their synagogues. And they even set fire to the Eastern Orthodox churches. So they burned alive people and murdered anywhere up to 100,000 people as they took Jerusalem on that dark day of July 15th, 1099.

**[24:23]** Reynald of Aguilares. So this is not the famous Reynald that we were talking about. But he's one of the crusaders. He writes about it. He says, in the temple and Solomon's porch, men rode in blood up to their knees and up to their horses' reins. They flooded the streets with blood. They destroyed the masajid. They destroyed everything that was holy to anybody else. And they beat back the Muslims, whatever existed of the Muslims, to different regions. At that time, Imad al-Din Zengi, rahimahullah ta'ala, of the Seljuks, he fights back in Iraq with whatever he can. But he has limited success against the crusaders before he himself is going to be assassinated. And his second son, Nur al-Din Zengi, rahimahullah ta'ala, will take command of the Zengid dynasty.

**[25:29]** And this is where we come to the story of Salah al-Din. You cannot talk about the story of Salah al-Din al-Ayubi, rahimahullah, without talking about Nur al-Din al-Zengi, rahimahullah ta'ala. Who was the mujaddid before the mujaddid. The warrior before the warrior. The leader before the leader. The mentor of one of the greatest human beings this ummah has ever seen. You cannot talk about Salah al-Din without understanding Nur al-Din al-Zengi, rahimahullah ta'ala. Imam ibn al-Athir, rahimahullah ta'ala, says that there has not been a man that this ummah has seen since Khulafa al-Rashideen, like Nur al-Din, rahimahullah ta'ala. Not a more competent and great leader that this ummah has seen since Khulafa al-Rashideen, like Nur al-Din, rahimahullah ta'ala. Nur al-Din establishes his rule in Halab, in Syria.

**[26:35]** So his brother takes what's left over of Iraq from his father, and Nur al-Din takes Syria. He establishes himself in Syria. And Nur al-Din is someone who fights back the crusaders valiantly and is able to beat them back from major strongholds, and is able to establish multiple sneak attacks on different crusader strongholds, and quickly becomes a boogeyman of sorts to the crusaders. As he is rebuilding his rule in Syria and beating back the crusaders from certain regions, he also establishes over 40 madaris, 40 schools, scholarly hubs of learning, because he sees that the revival of 'ilm, the revival of the Qur'an, is central to the revival of the ummah. And so he mandates his warriors to go through religious training. The generals in the army of Nur al-Din are all huffadh of Qur'an.

**[27:44]** He mandates that they learn once again, and he also wants to spread the sunnah in the face of what had happened under al-Dawla al-Fatimiyyah. So he's taking through different routes to beat back the crusaders, and to beat back some of the influences that had weakened the ummah from within. So he's a righteous man, an incredible human being. And subhanAllah, an entire lecture should be and could be dedicated to him, but tonight we will not be able to do him justice, because we want to focus on Palestine and his role in Palestine. Suffice it to say, as Ibn al-Athir says, Nur al-Din commissioned the construction of the minbar that would be placed in Masjid al-Aqsa once Masjid al-Aqsa was retaken from the crusaders.

**[28:53]** And it took a couple of years, and you can imagine the psychological impact on the people, that Nur al-Din, the leader, is already constructing the minbar of al-Aqsa. When we take it back, this is the minbar that we will place back in Masjid al-Aqsa. And the way that he's trying to instigate the emotions of the believers, so that they can understand that what has been taken from them is not going to be considered insignificant, nor will it be forgotten amongst the ummah. And this impacts Salah al-Din growing up. Imagine growing up in that shape, where you know that your predecessor has already built the minbar, that one day, you know, today when we hold the keys of Palestine from the Nakba, and you say, one day you will open your home, one day we will return to our lands, even when it seems impossible, we're taking this from our turath, we're taking this from our tradition.

**[30:00]** You know, like subhanAllah, one of my teachers, he said something very profound once, he said, what dress have you prepared for the day of Fath al-Bayt al-Maqdis? What are you going to wear the day that it's opened? That there are some that would put aside even their relics, that the day that Jerusalem is opened, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, this is what we will enter in with, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. So it's part of the psychological and spiritual growth of the believers. So Nur al-Din rahimahullah ta'ala has this minbar built, and it would not be installed in al-Aqsa until two decades after he's already passed away. And that's not the point, right? The point is that he's generating something special in the hearts of young people around him. He is reigniting the ummah towards something that is special. And so Nur al-Din and the Zengid empire are embedding the idea of al-Bayt al-Maqdis in the hearts of young people. They're putting that back in the hearts of the ummah. And they're right there in Ash-Sham at the gates of Jerusalem, which is the most fortified city right now that represents crusader domination over the Muslim world. And there's an important lesson here. That you might say that Nur al-Din failed, if you're looking particularly at or specifically at his political endeavors. That Nur al-Din was never able to take back Jerusalem in his lifetime, and he certainly tried. But sometimes it's not the individual or the group that tries to do it the first time.

**[31:21]** Sometimes the credit should go to those who didn't relinquish the idea, even if their efforts fell short, because they placed the fruit in the hearts and in the minds of those who will come after them, and have the same sincerity as them, and will see the effort through by the permission of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and Allah rewards everyone in the process of that. Everyone that was a part of that process. And so if you're just going to clip out Nur al-Din's chapter, and this is extremely important right now. If you were going to clip out Nur al-Din's chapter, you might deem him a political failure, without looking at what came after him, or what he put into Salah al-Din after him. Because you'll say he didn't, he wasn't able to do it. The odds were against him. He built that minbar, but what did he actually achieve?

**[32:29]** When he lived and when he died, his entire life, Jerusalem was under the crusaders. It's not the point. This is an ummah where transition and transmission comes through the hearts. That light is transmitted from generation to generation. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows what everyone has put into that process. So this is Nur al-Din al-Zangi rahimahullah ta'ala. And we'll talk a little bit more about him inshaAllah ta'ala, as we start to introduce Salah al-Din in this process, and focus on some of these lessons. So Salah al-Din is born in 1137. Where was he born? In Tikrit, in Iraq. And he wasn't an Arab, he was a Kurd. Nur al-Din also was not an Arab, which shows you subhanAllah, that the connection to al-Aqsa has to transcend Arabism. Has to transcend that. It has to be a cause of the ummah.

**[33:34]** Imad al-Din was not an Arab, Nur al-Din was not an Arab, Salah al-Din was not an Arab. And subhanAllah, there are some who even tried to connect Salah al-Din to an Arab ancestor to make him Arab. It didn't matter. And it doesn't matter what you can find in his lineage, or if you can try to connect him to an Arab ancestor. This is a cause that's greater than the Arab, this is the cause of Islam and the Muslims. This is the cause of every single person, and the one who connects their hearts and efforts to it, is just as connected to it as anyone else. Because Allah subhanAllah makes sacred links through what physical links cannot make. And so there are different claims that are made to Salah al-Din. By the way, funny enough, even after the glorious chapter of Salah al-Din will close, some of the Europeans will try to justify in their minds how such a great man rose amongst the Muslims, who they had portrayed as barbarians and as lowly people all this time.

**[34:43]** How did the greatest general of their time arise from them? And their conclusion in some of their books was that he had a European mother. And so he had to come from something else, because it doesn't make sense otherwise for him to be this person. And I want to say about Salah al-Din al-Ayubi rahimAllah ta'ala before we continue, that this is a man who subhanAllah, when you talk about qabool, when you talk about acceptance in the hearts of the believers, has been given a status in the ummah that is unparalleled. I want you to think about the amount of time that has passed from his time to our time. And the way that his name has been invoked generation after generation after generation, that is enough to tell you what a special person he is. In the sight of Allah subhanAllah ta'ala, that he has been in the hearts of believers for over an entire millennium.

**[35:50]** It's unprecedented, it's unheard of, for someone that comes that far after the sahaba to have that type of a status amongst the believers. And when you read about him, he deserves it. He deserves every bit of that praise that he receives in the ummah. He deserves every bit of that acceptance, because this was a man who was born and bred and who lived and died with the ummah in his heart. A selfless human being subhanAllah, who had vision, who had sincerity that is unparalleled in his time. And I also want you to appreciate the circumstances that he was born in, and how close he actually was to the time of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. I was trying to reflect on this context. The time between us and Salahuddin is a thousand years.

**[36:56]** The time between the context of Salahuddin, not necessarily the birth of Salahuddin, the context of Salahuddin and the death of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is 400 years. That means that the effect of that generation of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the generation that immediately followed and immediately followed is very much so still present. Like I think about this in an American context. They talk about slavery being 400 years old. The effects are still very present. There are easy ways to trace your lineage. You know who your great, great, great grandfather was if you look hard enough. You can trace the development of villages and cities. You can see the same structures. That's how close it is to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.

**[38:00]** And so that should help you appreciate that there is something very special that's still in the air to be salvaged. And that makes the destruction of a place like Jerusalem and the pillaging of the Muslim world that much sadder in his time. And so you have this man, rahimahullah ta'ala, that's a Khalid ibn al-Waleed like figure. The greatest general in this ummah after Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Who we would have the great victories on his hand. What is his actual name? What is his actual name? Does anyone know? His actual name is Yusuf. His actual name is Yusuf. And Salahuddin is the honorific that is given to him, rahimahullah ta'ala. This is deeply profound because it will factor into the way that he lives his life, rahimahullah ta'ala.

**[39:05]** His father was a general under Imaduddin whose name was Najmuddin. His father Najmuddin was a general under Imaduddin. Remember Imaduddin is the father in Iraq. And when he dies, his son Nuruddin, his second son assumes the rulership of the dynasty based out of Syria, based primarily out of Syria. So he's a general under Imaduddin, a Zengi, rahimahullah ta'ala. And before Salahuddin was born, his mother had an interesting dream about him that she went to the dream interpreters with. She said, I saw a dream that in my stomach was a sword. And so subhanAllah, you talk about a ru'ya and a prophecy that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bring out of this man. His mother saw him as a sword in her stomach before she actually gave birth to him, rahimahullah ta'ala.

**[40:14]** And subhanAllah, what happens on the very day that he's born is that his father, his mother, who just gives birth to him, have to flee from Tikrit because of an attack. So you can imagine the day of his birth, he's a refugee. He's on the move on the day of his birth. His father is expelled the day of his birth. And as they are on the run, one of the generals says to his father Najmuddin that this baby of yours must be bad luck. It's got to be bad fortune, right? The day of his birth, you're expelled and you're on the run from Tikrit to Mosul in Iraq, right? Both in Iraq. So this baby must be of bad fortune. And he responded and he said, rather, it may be that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has planned through him a good fortune that we can't comprehend. There might be something in his qadr that is way beyond anything that we can perceive.

**[41:18]** And so I think about those children that are born in Gaza that were born while their parents were on the run and perhaps babies that were born, subhanAllah, that will never know their parents. Babies that showed up in the makeshift hospitals and their parents had been killed in the same bombing. Allah azawajal knows what may come out of this generation of genocide. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give 'Izzah to this generation. Allahumma ameen. And so they're fleeing to Mosul where Imaduddin, the father is, Imaduddin Zangi rahimahullah ta'ala. And he takes in the soldiers who fled including his general Najmuddin al-Ayubi, the father of Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala. Eventually, as we said, Imaduddin will pass away and Nuruddin assumes the rule in Syria.

**[42:23]** So Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala is going to grow up in which city? In Damascus, in Damascus. And as he grows up, to give you the context of Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala, the sentiment around him, everything was anti-crusader. Everything is anti-crusader. Everything from the culture, to the poetry, to the stories. And so that's one very important context to have that he's born in the devastation of the crusaders. And the crusaders have Jerusalem. And he's born in the shadow of Nuruddin Zangi rahimahullah ta'ala. Who will become his greatest mentor. That's number one. Number two, there's a defeatist atmosphere. That the Muslims will not be able to fight back this monster of the crusaders. And I think about our day and age, you know, you think about the climate.

**[43:28]** Anasheed al-intifada and the different poetry and the different songs that children are nurtured with. And it's important for them to not just have those songs and to have that poetry and to have that connection. But to also believe that that connection will eventually manifest in victory. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has promised us that these songs will not stay in our ears alone. That this poetry will not merely be recited on our tongues as we are distant. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will see us through. So he grows up in an anti-crusader climate, but a defeatist climate as well. He also grows up in the masjid that became a focal point subhanAllah in the last few weeks. Qaddarallahu ma sha' fa'al. The Umayyad masjid.

**[44:33]** He grows up in that masjid. That's the masjid that he memorized the Qur'an in. That's the masjid that he learned the fiqh of Imam al-Shafi'i in and became a master of the Shafi'i madhhab. That is the masjid that he grew up playing in. That he grew up practicing his military arts in. Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala grows up as a student of knowledge. Simultaneously he grows up as a warrior. He learns everything from religion to astronomy to Greek philosophy to diplomacy to the arts. To everything about military skill. And subhanAllah he takes a deep interest to the legend of Nuruddin rahimahullah ta'ala. Even more so than his immediate relatives. As well as the scholars that are around him. So he loves the 'ulama and he grows up in the shade of the scholars and he praises the scholars.

**[45:38]** So he could grow up to either be a scholar or a warrior or both. But he looks at Nuruddin rahimahullah ta'ala as an absolute hero. And Nuruddin rahimahullah ta'ala sees in Salahuddin a very special kid. And spends time investing in Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala and mentoring him as well. And so it's only at the age of 14 that he becomes an official soldier in the Zengi dynasty. Directly under the command of his uncle Asaduddin. You'll notice a lot of uddins, uddins, uddins, uddins. I'm sorry. InshaAllah ta'ala you'll be able to capture that. So his father is Najmuddin. His uncle is Asaduddin. His mentor and the leader is Nuruddin. There we go. Hopefully you all memorized it by now inshaAllah ta'ala. I won't take you further than that.

**[46:43]** So he becomes a commissioned soldier in the Zengi dynasty under his uncle Asaduddin. Who in western literature is also a Shirkuh. And as he grows and flourishes under him he's quickly ascending the ranks of the military. Now by the way this is an important point. Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala in terms of physical stature actually was not very big. He actually didn't have a dominant physical stature. So it was easy to overlook him in the ranks of the military. But his haybah, his awe-inspiring presence and what he was able to do pushed him through in ways that he was gaining the attention of everyone within the ranks of the military. Nuruddin is receiving the reports of this growth of his. His father until he passes away is seeing Salahuddin. His uncle is seeing him.

**[47:48]** And so eventually the year 1164 comes. And Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala is appointed as a commander of a battalion to engage Egypt. Egypt is under the Fatimid dynasty. Which at that point is the largest superpower in the Muslim world. The Abbasid Khilafah is really a small Khilafah. It's more symbolic than anything else at that point. So it's the most dominant force in the Muslim world. And this is where subhanAllah you start to see the wit of Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala. That Salahuddin is a Sunni scholar and warrior. He represents a Sunni dynasty. Right? And we're talking about a dynasty that again is further than even mainstream Shi'ism. So we're talking about ideologically two different powers but he's patient.

**[48:53]** Salahuddin rahimahullah sees an opportunity to build from within Egypt. And so he goes into Egypt and through negotiations his uncle becomes a wazir initially. His uncle becomes a minister under the Fatimid dynasty. Under Dawla al-Fatimiyya. Despite everything that is happening there. And eventually his uncle passes away. And Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala is appointed as a wazir. Appointed as a minister under the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt. So there he not only trains battalions and develops an army. He consolidates all sorts of power. For one, he builds universities and madaris all throughout Egypt in the same mold that Nuruddin did in Syria. So he starts to build madaris throughout.

**[49:58]** Madaris of hifth of Qur'an and learning creed and learning jurisprudence and to grow the scholars. He increases subhanAllah this is really interesting. He saw that it was important to increase the wage of the teachers. If you want to look at how a society values education look at the way that it pays its teachers. Right? And so it tells you a lot about how Islamic scholars can be valued and how imams can be valued. And how teachers, those that teach your children can be valued. And it's important for a society to be uplifted in that way. And to have education prioritized. And so he increases the office of the educators if you will. He builds these glorious madaris all across. And in the process he also becomes a noted orator. So he's giving khutbah in Egypt. He's a general in Egypt. He's building madaris in Egypt. His popularity is growing.

**[51:03]** He survives multiple assassination attempts. SubhanAllah it's remarkable how many times this man was almost killed. Now one time in Egypt he's literally stabbed in his helmet, in his head. And he doesn't die. So he survives multiple assassination attempts because some people are wary of his power. He slowly starts to change things. The adhan was altered to hayya 'ala khayr al-'amal. Come to the best of deeds. So he slowly starts to bring things back. Bringing them back to the deen. Growing with the people. And then he finds an opportunity. He's still technically paying allegiance to the Fatimid leader within the dynasty. As he gives his khutbah he makes du'a for him. But he finds an opportunity to suddenly push the boundaries.

**[52:08]** And he omits the name of the ruler of the Fatimids in his khutbah. The leader of the Fatimids passes away. Salahuddin assumes a greater role of power as a natural leader amongst the people. He changes the allegiance in the official sense symbolically to the Abbasid Khilafah. And he continues to now consolidate his power. And I'm omitting a lot of details because of time. He continues to grow and consolidate his power throughout the region. So the madaris that he built are systematically upon what he has put. As well as older madaris like Al-Azhar is changed to fit a coordinated curriculum. That grows the people in the deen across the board. And again fits the mold of what Nuruddin put into motion.

**[53:13]** And so SubhanAllah you can imagine the religious transformation of Egypt. The psychological transformation of Egypt under Salahuddin. He then secures the hajj routes. Because remember the crusaders would attack the hajj routes. And even the Fatimids, at least under al-Hakim ibn Amr Allah, they banned the hajj. So he secures the hajj routes from Egypt and Sudan. And this makes him extremely popular with the people. And so he becomes known as the defender of the hajj. Because he secures the route of the pilgrims. He then captures Yemen. So I'm just, if you think of a mind map of what Salahuddin is doing. He takes Egypt and then he captures Yemen. And by capturing Yemen he gains control over the ports, over the Red Sea.

**[54:18]** And by having control over the Red Sea, he's able to import and export using the ports. And enrich the economy under his rule in Egypt as well as Yemen. And so his power is quickly growing. And by the way, this is all happening within a matter of three years. This isn't taking decades. This is unfolding rapidly. Now what happens, and subhanAllah this is the case of fitnah always. That there are efforts to pit Salahuddin now in Egypt and Yemen. Against Nuruddin, his teacher in Syria. And so the suspicion is growing, the fitnah is growing. And of course the crusaders could want nothing more than to see these colossal leaders go at it. Nuruddin and Salahuddin. And just as that fitnah is starting to grow.

**[55:23]** Nuruddin Azengi, rahimahullah, dies a natural death in the year 1174. By the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Without them ever having actually fought. Which is an incredible mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because the forces were being put into motion. To pit these two powers against each other. And to have the familiar internal turmoil within the Muslim world. But Allah azawajal spared Nuruddin from that. And spared Salahuddin of that as well. And spared the ummah as a whole of that as well. In the process Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala wants to continue to unify the ranks. And so he now takes the Zengid empire. And he absorbs it into the Ayyubid dynasty. If you're looking at it from historical terms.

**[56:28]** But under his power he now starts to bring Syria under his power as well. He takes Damascus. He takes Halab. And subhanallah he does things in a very diplomatic way. At the end of the day he's trying to soften the hearts too. So wherever he can spare bloodshed and consolidating power in the Muslim world. He does so. So the son of Nuruddin rahimahullah ta'ala was too young. And quickly passes on. And the widow of Nuruddin, Ismat. Is now technically in charge of the throne. And Salahuddin marries the widow of Nuruddin. And this helps consolidate power as well. So he marries the widow of his teacher. And this helps bring power as well. Into his ranks. And so he becomes the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria.

**[57:33]** Over time subhanallah he will gain Syria, Egypt, Yemen, the Hijaz. Parts of Libya and beyond. So he consolidates beyond and Iraq as well. He's given legitimacy in Baghdad. He's given legitimacy as well. So this is a man subhanallah who consolidates power. And who sees the importance of unifying the Muslim ummah. Before you can take on a monster like the crusaders. And that is perhaps one of the most important lessons in studying Salahuddin. That even a man as brilliant and remarkable as him. Knew that it was important to solidify everything around as well. That Jerusalem has to be the central focus. But Jerusalem cannot be the exclusive focus of reformation. Of restoration of the ummah. That it was important to unify the ranks and solidify the ranks.

**[58:38]** As he gained focus and he started to focus the Muslim world. On what was happening in Jerusalem. And subhanAllah of his greatest qualities. This is a remarkably patient man. It took him one decade to do this. For two years he was operating in Egypt under a dawla that was completely foreign to him. And within ten years he survives over twenty assassination attempts. And you know when Ibn Abbas says about the ayah. When they were patient and when they had certainty in our ways. SubhanAllah look at the man's patience. He's always optimistic. He's always determined. He's always resilient. He operates at a pace of his own. Where he's not hasty. He's very wise about everything he's doing. He's very calculated about everything he's doing.

**[59:43]** But at the same time he always sees that important moment. Where he can take that next step. Now you have to think about the crusader perspective. The Muslims are coming together. Therefore Jerusalem is at risk of falling to the Muslims once again. Nuruddin's protege is growing in power. We suddenly can't keep them fractured. And you have to understand that our enemies always want to weaken us from within. Through the tactic of division. The Romans were thrilled with the wars amongst the sahaba. Because that gave them a chance to breathe with everything that was happening prior to that. And here they are thrilled. The crusaders were thrilled with all the internal turmoil. And dynasties that were at competition in the Muslim world. So that they could continue to just take more and more and more. And exploit it without finding any real competition.

**[1:00:48]** So Amalric of the crusaders tries to exploit the division. But he dies. Then from the crusader side Baldwin IV. Who is a young man with leprosy. And who's very ill. Takes charge. And because of that they're a weakened empire. As Baldwin IV assumes charge. Salahuddin sees that they are weakening. And he tries to take advantage of a moment. And subhanAllah this is so important. Because just as much as you cover his victory. You have to also cover the times that he fell short. In the year 1177 Salahuddin makes an attempt on Jerusalem. He thinks that he has a pathway to Al-Quds. He takes his path. He tries to stage an attack on Al-Quds to retake Jerusalem. Not only is his army defeated. But they're cut off from the back. And Salahuddin is almost killed in that process.

**[1:01:53]** And it is just as important to cover that defeat. As it is to cover the fath that will come later. Because even though he was quote unquote defeated. He wasn't deterred. And that's actually part of the point as well. You know when you think of Salahuddin. You think of alright guy is born. He's just a master of everything. Just goes to the gates of Jerusalem. Says I'm here read some Qur'an and then takes it. There's a process here that's unfolding. Where he's defeated but he's not deterred. He's not demoralized. So he goes back and he rearranges himself. Continues to try to consolidate power. And subhanAllah there's a narration that's even said to him. Because he's a sultan and they're thinking about power and territory. Look you have Egypt. You have Syria. You have Yemen. You have the Hijaz.

**[1:02:58]** How come you're not smiling? Why aren't you content? And he said how could I smile when Baitul Maqdis is under crusader occupation? All of this is irrelevant to me if it doesn't manifest in the retaking of Jerusalem. I'm not doing this for power. I'm doing this so that we can retake Al-Quds. So that we could retake Jerusalem. And it's even narrated that some said to him that we saw in astrology. That the astrologers have said that if you try to retake Jerusalem you'll lose an eye. He said I'll lose both of my eyes. I don't care. That doesn't matter to me. He's focused on Al-Quds. He goes back. He regroups. And he thinks about how to retake it once again. Two years later. April of 1179.

**[1:04:03]** Salah Al-Din Rahim Allah Ta'ala meets one of the largest armies of the crusaders at the Golan Heights. And he has up to 40,000 men with him. And he defeats the crusaders in the area of the Golan Heights. The Druze in the area actually pledge allegiance to him. And so he consolidates power in that area as well. Baldwin from the crusaders secures a truce with Salah Al-Din. So they go into, they enter into a two year truce. Why would Salah Al-Din enter into a truce with the crusaders? Because he sees that it's an opportunity to consolidate more strength and power from the Muslim world when the time comes again. So Salah Al-Din takes the truce as an opportunity to continue to unify and bring the Muslim world under a singular power structure.

**[1:05:08]** The year 1183 comes. Salah Al-Din Rahim Allah Ta'ala has everything from Halab to the Hijaz. Mosul is still an issue for him. And the truce is violated by a man by the name of Raynaud de Chatillon. Raynaud de Chatillon. This man SubhanAllah is one of the greatest enemies that Islam has ever seen in its history. The fir'awn of his time truly if there was to be one is Raynaud also known as Reginald. Raynaud de Chatillon. If you look at a map right now and you were to draw from Damascus all the way down to Mecca to Al-Hajj. You'll see right in between there is Karak in Jordan. I'm not talking about the T. The famous city and you have the palace. Raynaud is a crusader general who is situated right there and it's right on the route from Syria to Hajj.

**[1:06:13]** And despite claims by Baldwin that he has instructions not to attack the Muslims on the way to Hajj, he just can't help himself. The man constantly attacks the Hajj and attacks the Muslims on their way from Syria to Al-Hajj. He cannot restrain himself. He captures them. He kills them. He steals from them. He does everything the truce entails that he's not supposed to do. Baldwin claims that this is Raynaud acting on his own. But this causes a disruption in the truce and then eventually Baldwin seeks another truce. This time with Salahuddin for four years. Okay, for four years. A four year truce. SubhanAllah how these things start to sound so relevant to our times. Salahuddin agrees to it. They even have discussions about how Muslims will be able to visit Jerusalem and to at least rebuild what has been destroyed

**[1:07:18]** and some security guarantees of Christians that come into the territories of the Muslims at that point. So there are negotiations that are ongoing during that time. As that happens, Baldwin IV dies. Baldwin V, his son, takes over as a child ruler. Doesn't last long because he's also a very sickly child. But his sister takes the throne and then appoints her husband, Guy of Lusignan, as the king of Jerusalem. If you read in the English literature, by the way, it's spelled as Guy. His name is not Guy. Guy of Lusignan is appointed as the king of Jerusalem. So there's a new ruler to deal with, a new power structure to deal with from the Crusaders. So Salahuddin is upholding the truce. But as we said, this man Raynaud is an incredibly evil human being.

**[1:08:23]** And I want to give you a little bit of context of this man, Raynaud de Chatillon, and what he tried to do and how they tried to psychologically demoralize the Muslims. And if you were a Muslim living at that time, what type of shaking and what type of doubt could be instilled in your faith? Al-Aqsa is taken. Raynaud says, I am going to take the Kaaba and destroy it. And then I'm going to go and pull the body. And he uses a derogatory word about our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, which I will not repeat. But I'll go pull his body out from Medina and crucify his body to make a display out of him. So his goal was we took Jerusalem. I also want to demolish the Kaaba and I want to steal the body of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

**[1:09:28]** Nour al-Din al-Zengi, Rahim Allah Ta'ala, when he was still alive, he had a dream of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in Medina looking disturbed. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam pointed to two men. When Nour al-Din woke up, he immediately sent to Al-Medina and he identified the exact looks of those two men. He said, find these two men. And SubhanAllah, these two same men were crusader agents that had penetrated into Medina. They posed to be students of knowledge. And they were digging a tunnel in Al-Medina to the body of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to try to confiscate the body of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Nour al-Din, Rahim Allah, foiled their plot. This was at the commissioning of Raynald de Chatillon.

**[1:10:33]** So Raynald tried to steal the body of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Used to regularly attack the Hajjaj. Wants to flatten the Kaaba in his own expression. Salah al-Din hates this man. So within this four year truce, because he can't help himself, here they are again passing through Karak. And Raynald attacks the Hajjaj again. He kills some of them, he takes some of them as hostages, he steals all of their belongings. Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, in upholding the covenant, he offers an opportunity to distance themselves from what Raynald has done. Give the hostages back, compensate for all the harm that you've done. Raynald insists that he's not going to do it. He insists that this is his right and he's going to continue to attack the Hajjaj anytime they cross through Karak.

**[1:11:38]** Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, swears by Allah that he will kill Raynald by his own hand. That Raynald de Chatillon will be killed by his own hand. And SubhanAllah, go back to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Hudaybiyyah was supposed to be a ten year truce. The Meccans violated Hudaybiyyah which led to Fath Mecca. Here, Raynald, in historical Christian sources, is blamed as the guy that gave up Jerusalem. Because it was because of his actions that Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, basically acted upon the broken truce. And decided to carry forth with his offense against the Crusaders and to retake Jerusalem. So they accredit him for the fall of Jerusalem as Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, now had an opening to go into Jerusalem.

**[1:12:43]** And to take it back and to continue the war against the Crusaders. So Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, intercepts Raynald's troops with a fleet that he sends under Husam al-Din al-Lu'lu. And as this happens, this will lead up to the famous battle of Hattin. Which is the gate of Al-Quds. The famous battle of Al-Hattin. Raynald had taken Nablus, he'd taken Beirut, he'd taken all sorts of other towns around. And they were basically guarding Jerusalem from different fronts. And so the fights between the Muslims and the Crusaders are in full effect. And as he's entrenching, or as the Crusaders are entrenching themselves to guard Jerusalem, Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, takes a different strategy.

**[1:13:48]** Just as he patiently unified the Muslim world under a central power, Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, made it a point to capture all the unsuspecting forts. And so he starts to clean up around Jerusalem. So he takes back Haifa, he takes back Beirut, he takes back Nablus, he takes Akka, he takes all of these different places. He captures the forts. And then he patiently surrounds the main army, the main fort of the Crusaders. And in the process, he uses his military genius. So like Khalid al-Waleed radiyaAllahu anhu, if you read about Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu, his main tactic was deflection. So he creates these bogeymen, these deflections in different places that take the army by surprise, and then he's able to move in deeper.

**[1:14:53]** He poisons wells along the way. He attacks with small groups of archers, these Crusader bases. And so imagine when you're trying to sleep at night, but then from far away, a few arrows rain down on you. And so what that does is it creates a paranoia amongst the Crusaders wherever they are, that at any point these archers might rain down upon us. And so they have sleep deprivation now. They have all sorts of paranoia and panic amongst them. They never know as they're in those areas where Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, has commissioned some of his men. So he's using small battalions to demoralize and deprive them of any type of morale that they're building around Jerusalem, that they're building around Palestine.

**[1:15:58]** And then comes the Battle of Hattin. Now SubhanAllah, as Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, arrives, as we know the story, SubhanAllah, that Salah al-Din is checking the tents of the Muslims. To make sure what? Not that they are militarily equipped. To make sure that their tents are lit up at night and that they're praying Qiyam al-Layl. And Ibn Shaddad, Rahim Allah, who will talk about his biographer, he mentions that Salah al-Din would not miss a night of tahajjud. That this was a man, no matter how busy, no matter how tired, no matter how engulfed he was in the battle, always found his time to turn on the lights in his tent and to pray to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala at night for victory. And this was one of the most crucial ingredients of his success.

**[1:17:03]** So Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, is making sure that his soldiers are praying and that his soldiers are ready. Under the king of Jerusalem, Guy, you have 1,300 of the most skilled knights that will come out to fight the Muslims. Their headquarters had been Masjid al-Aqsa, the destroyed Masjid al-Aqsa, had been the headquarters of the knights of the crusaders. He sends his most skilled knights and he sends 15,000 troops. Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, amasses an army of about 20,000 people. And they meet for the battle of Hattin. Just like the battle of Badr, the use of archery gives the Muslims a strategic advantage.

**[1:18:08]** And so as the battle begins, the Muslims rain down so many arrows that the army cannot advance in any way to the point that they say that even an ant would be hit. Precise with their arrows, striking them and beating them back as they seek to come forth. And they rain arrows throughout the day and the night. As that's happening, Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, is gathering intelligence from within as to what their weaknesses are. He comes to find out that they're short on water. They're short on water. So what does he do? He sees the direction that the wind is blowing and he sets the grass on fire. And the wind blows the fire onto them and they don't have water amongst themselves to put that fire out. And so their army is demoralized.

**[1:19:13]** On top of that, remember the true cross that the Persians had stolen from the Christians? And that Heraclius had hoisted on his back and put back in the sepulcher and was guaranteed safety by Umar al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu? They came carrying that true cross because they thought that if they carried the true cross, they could not lose. Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, was able to acquire the true cross from them. And this completely psychologically demoralized the Crusaders. Because they knew that they were done at this point. And so the Muslims would come back to Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala and they would say, An-Nasr, we won. He would say, not yet. And he would say, until you've captured every single battalion and until you've struck at the tent. We've won, we've won, we've won.

**[1:20:18]** And he made sure that they had complete victory. And then he came down and he did Sajdah to Shukr, Rahim Allah ta'ala. And it was at this point, by the way, that Raynald de Chatillon, Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, would kill him with his own hands. As he had promised, as he intercepted him before the fall of Jerusalem. And as I said, I'm skipping a lot because I want to focus on the lessons. The 20th of Rajab. And you can look at the date right now on your phone, by the way. The 20th of Rajab. Which correlates to the 2nd of October 1187. Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, begins his front on Jerusalem. And he lays siege for six days.

**[1:21:23]** And then it would be on the 27th of Rajab that he would enter into Al-Quds. And if you remember when we covered Al-Isra' Al-Mi'raj, that is the date that many scholars hold, would have been the night of Al-Isra' Al-Mi'raj. The night that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam led all of the prophets, the Anbiya, in prayer on that miraculous journey. And as Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, enters into Jerusalem. You can imagine the emotions of the Muslims that have been subjected to all sorts of horrific crimes before that point. You can imagine the spirit of rightful vengeance. These people beat our children against walls. Grilled them and ate them off of skewers. These people exploited and violated our women in the worst of ways.

**[1:22:28]** These people burnt down Masjid Al-Aqsa, desecrated everything that was holy to us in Jerusalem. And we've been banned, there was no Adhan in Al-Aqsa for almost 90 years. Can you imagine? Almost an entire century. So when you tell me Palestine is over, the Qadiya is over, it's not over. Almost 90 years, not an Adhan in Masjid Al-Aqsa. But Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, lives up to his legendary name, Yusuf. And he offers terms to the crusaders, he offers safe passage. Women shaved their heads and desecrated themselves because they were afraid that the Muslims would do to them what the crusaders did to the women of the Muslims. We're not like them, we can't be like them. People protected their wealth that they thought would be looted.

**[1:23:33]** Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, offers safe passage and safety. And on top of that, as they desecrated our sites, he restored their sites and guaranteed their places of worship. Just as Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu, when he entered into Jerusalem. Now as the time goes on, I want you to imagine the emotion then, when he brings forth the Minbar that was built by Nur al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, and installs that Minbar in Masjid Al-Aqsa. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect it. Allahumma ameen. And I also want you to appreciate that this war did not stop. Salah al-Din showed every form of Ihsan that you could possibly show. But you know what? The crusaders launched the third crusade. And they came back.

**[1:24:38]** And Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, stayed the course. And he kept on protecting it. And this is important that you don't get caught up in a moment of euphoria and victory and think that it's all over. Because it's often then when you put your guard down that you're struck. Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, guarded the fort. The crusaders gathered some of the largest armies, up to 600,000. Some historians even say under Frederick, up to a million soldiers to come and fight and to retake Jerusalem. Frederick drowned. Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, rose. And he continued to protect. And yes, at times he lost some of the towns around Al-Aqsa. He lost some of the towns around Jerusalem. But he continued to guard the forts of the Muslims.

**[1:25:43]** And it was Richard who said that as long as Salah al-Din is in Jerusalem, it will never be taken. And indeed it was not taken. While Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah ta'ala, was amongst us. As we come to his death, I want to mention the name of the man who chronicled his life up close and personal. You keep hearing me say Ibn Shaddad. And this man, his name was Baha al-Din ibn Tamim. From Mosul in Iraq. He was a scholar, he was a wise man, he was a poet, a qadi. And the reason why he's called Ibn Shaddad is because his maternal uncles are from Banu Shaddad and he was raised amongst them. So his famous nickname is Ibn Shaddad. And there are other Ibn Shaddad's in history.

**[1:26:48]** And he gained such prominence chronicling the Muslim world that Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, summoned him from Hajj to come to him. And then Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, took him as a close confidant and a close friend. And ultimately he became one of Salah al-Din's closest generals and field commanders, but also his biographer. Writing about some of the things that were happening behind the scenes with Salah al-Din. He says, I swear by Allah that Salah al-Din did not miss Salah in congregation, even in the battlefield in his tent. That he established his Salah in congregation. And that when the nights would become darkest and the people would retreat to their beds, Salah al-Din, Rahim Allah, would retreat to his qiyam. Even in the fiercest of battles.

**[1:27:53]** This is a man who lived in the battlefield. Who never had a moment of respite. And always turned back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I want you to think about this. He never actually reaches the threshold of zakah. Because he would spend what came to him in the way of Allah. And so he doesn't steal the money of the Muslims. Which was common as leaders would enrich themselves on the backs of the Muslims. Salah al-Din's goodwill to the Muslims was evident in the way that he carried out his life. And one of the most shocking things that I always think about. The man never made hajj. Salah al-Din never had the opportunity to do hajj. His whole life was spent in battle. He never got a break to even go and to do hajj.

**[1:28:58]** But look at the status that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to him amongst the Muslims. He says that I remember times that it would be three days. And he wouldn't have a morsel of food in his body. A true warrior in the battlefield with his people. Three days he wouldn't have a morsel of food in his body. And he would often bemoan the lack of response from the rest of the Muslims. And he would wonder when would the Ummah wake up and meet the challenge. Rise to the great challenge that they had. And he didn't want to be seen as the singular savior of the Muslim world. But he wanted to see the Muslim world as saving itself. By attaching itself to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and what Allah Azawajal had made sacred.

**[1:30:03]** Ibn Shaddad recounts these moments sitting with Salah al-Din in Ashkelon, the shores of Gaza. And Salah al-Din looking out at the water and talking about his desire to spread Islam throughout the world. And hoping that the Muslims would continue on his legacy. And hoping that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala would give him the ability to spread Islam far beyond what he had done in those moments that he had. And then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tested him with a fever. He's back in Syria in Damascus. And for two weeks this intense fever takes him over. And he's only 55 or 56 years old. But it becomes clear that the greatest general...

**[1:31:08]** ...perhaps in the history of Islam after Khalid al-Walid... ...was going to die in his bed the same way that Khalid al-Walid died in his bed. Despite surviving 20 assassination attempts. Despite living in the battlefield. Like Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu pulled up his sleeves and showed his body to his companions and said... ...every single part of me is struck. How is it that I'm dying in a bed? Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala would die in his bed. And the Qur'an reciter would continue to recite by him and he would... ...as he started to phase into an unconscious state... ...he would react to certain ayat of the Qur'an. As the reciter came to...

**[1:32:13]** [At-Tawbah 9:128] ...that there has come a messenger amongst you. It greatly pains him what pains you. He cares so deeply about you. He is compassionate over you. Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala would nod. He would say... ...you've told the truth. And then when we came to... [Al-Hashr 59:23] Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala suddenly started to engage intensely with those ayat. Repeating after the reciter... His face beamed as he took his last breaths.

**[1:33:18]** Affirming that Allah azza wa jalla is the king of all kings. And affirming his tawheed. And he breathes his last... ...at the age of 56 years old in his bed in Damascus. To be buried right next to the masjid that he grew up in. In Masjid al-Umawi. When he passes away, people could not believe that he passed away. There is a mythology that was developing around him. How could Salahuddin die rahimahullah ta'ala? As often happens with great men. And the reciters had to remind the people in the streets of Damascus... ...that were wailing in tears and in disbelief. And wanted to see his body for themselves. The same ayah that was recited when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam died.

**[1:34:23]** [Ali 'Imran 3:144] That Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is but a messenger. And messengers have come and gone before him. And when he passes away, they look into his estate. And they found that he only possessed 47 dirhams of silver. One dinar of gold. Which wasn't enough to even pay for his janazah. The greatest leader of the Muslim world that we know of. Couldn't even pay for his own janazah at the time of his death. And it had to be taken from his family. The streets flooded as they came out for the janazah of Salahuddin rahimahullah ta'ala.

**[1:35:28]** And it's narrated that the people said at his grave site. Oh Allah as his final victory as you opened for him the doors of Jerusalem. Opened for him the doors of Jannah. Oh Allah as you opened for him the doors of Jerusalem. Opened for him the gates of Jannah. Something along the effect to say that he was granted victory here. And he did his job here. Oh Allah what you have promised him there. And they buried next to him in his grave what? His sword. And they said to him. You will lean on this into Jannah. Use this as you enter into Jannah. Subhanallah. Born in his mother's tummy as a sword. And buried with the sword right next to him. Where he was the great defender of the Muslims. And he was buried next to who?

**[1:36:33]** I want to end with this thought. My father was sharing this with me subhanallah and I looked it up. That the French colonialist Henri Gouraud. Henri Gouraud in the French mandate of Syria. In the year 1920. Famously walks up to the grave of Salahuddin rahimahullah. And he kicks it. And he says wake up Salahuddin I'm here. Wake up Salahuddin I'm here. The taunting of the Muslim world. The taunting of our heroes. It's not the first and the last time that we will see it. And they will seek to provoke and incite and awaken the sentiments of the Ummah. And in the poetry of my mother may Allah have mercy on her. With the addition and with the consultation of my father may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserve him.

**[1:37:38]** That as the Bosnians were being genocided by the Serbs. Oh Salahuddin stand up because the journey is not over. The Serbs and in this case the Zionists have filled the earth with corruption. And so who will stand and avenge their crimes? The invoking of the name of Salahuddin is not the invoking of a god. It's not the invoking of a saint. It's not calling upon a mere mortal to stand up. It's the invoking of our own generations. To say that who exists amongst us that will take up that call with the same passion that he had. And through that passion and sincerity be granted incredible Tawfiq from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Incredible success. Miraculous victory from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

**[1:38:43]** And miraculous victory does not come except through sincere exertion. Salahuddin is not someone who woke up and had Jerusalem handed to him. He's not someone who woke up and had greatness handed to him. He worked for it. And so as we celebrate these moments of respite for the people of Gaza and the people of Palestine. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that just as he rose from this Ummah Salahuddin. That he rise from amongst us the likes of Salahuddin. And that he include us amongst the likes of Nuruddin and Salahuddin. The righteous mothers that carried the Salahuddin. The righteous men and women on the front lines. The righteous scholars that taught in the Masajid. The righteous Huffadh of Qur'an that passed on the torch of this Deen.

**[1:39:48]** May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala count us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. BarakAllahu feekum. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Al Fatiha.

## Other Episodes in "Al-Aqsa - Past, Present, and Promise"
- [When Will Palestine Be Free? Signs of the Day of Judgment | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/when-will-palestine-be-free-signs-of-day-of-judgment-al-aqsa.md)
- [Zionism 1,000 Years In the Making | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/zionism-one-thousand-year-in-the-making-al-aqsa.md)
- [Roman Emperor Who Almost Became Muslim & Conquest of Jerusalem | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/roman-emperor-who-almost-became-muslim-and-conquest-of-jerusalem-alaqsa.md)
- [Isra and Miraj: The Greatest Journey Through the Heavens | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/isra-and-miraj-the-greatest-journey-through-the-heavens-al-aqsa.md)
- [Isra wal Miraj, Surah Rum, and the Year of Grief | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/isra-wal-miraj-surah-rum-and-year-of-grief-al-aqsa.md)
- [Syria, the Umayyad Mosque, and the Messiah’s Return | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/syria-umayyad-mosque-messiah-return-al-aqsa.md)
- [The Prophets, the Messiah, and the Promised Land | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/the-prophets-the-messiah-and-the-promised-land-al-aqsa.md)
- [The Switch of the Qiblah: Story of Masjid Qiblatayn | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/switch-of-the-qiblah-story-of-masjid-qiblatayn-al-aqsa.md)
- [The Blessed Land of Al-Sham: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/the-blessed-land-of-al-sham-palestine-lebanon-syria-jordan-al-aqsa.md)
- [Why is Quds (Jerusalem) So Special? | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/al-aqsa-past-present-and-promise/why-is-quds-jerusalem-so-special-al-aqsa-series.md)