, Abū S̲h̲ujāʿ b. Mud̲j̲īr al-Saʿdī, a vizier of the last Fāṭimid caliph, al-ʿĀḍid li-Dīn Allāh [ q.v.], and the statesman who involved the forces of Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd [ q.v.] in the affairs of Egypt. He belonged to the Banī Saʿd, semi-settled Bedouin of D̲j̲ud̲h̲ām [ q.v.], a tribal grouping both politically and militarily influential in the first half of the 6th/12th century. In S̲h̲awwāl 516/December 1122 S̲h̲āwar was released from a long period of Frankish captivity, and was established in al-ṭāʾifa al-Maʾmūniyya , the regiment of the vizier Maʾmūn al-Baṭāʾiḥī [ q.v.]. He was one of…

, al-Malik al-Nāṣir Abu ’l-Muẓaffar Yūsuf b. Ayyūb ( Saladin ), the founder of the dynasty of the Ayyūbids [ q.v.], and the champion of the d̲j̲ihād against the Crusaders (born 532/1138, died 589/1193). Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, or Saladin as he is normally known in Europe, was a Kurd, whose family originated from Dvīn in Armenia. His father Ayyūb and his uncle S̲h̲īrkūh [ q.v.] found service in the Sald̲j̲ūḳ state, and Saladin was born at Takrīt on the Tigris above Bag̲h̲dād while Ayyūb was acting as governor there. The family transferred its services to Zangī [ q.v.] and then to his son and successo…