THE EMPIRE BUILDER

Who was Nūr al-dīn, the man who set the stage for Saladin?

While it might go too far to describe Nūr al-dīn as a mentor for Saladin, his influence on the future sultan is clear. At a time when a divided Muslim world was unable to coordinate a resistance to the European invaders in Syria and Palestine, Nūr al-dīn showed the way.

Nūr al-dīn Abū al-qāsim Mahmūd ibn Imād al-dīn Zangī, to give him his full name, was born in Damascus around February 1118, less than 20 years after the First Crusade had ended and Jerusalem had been captured. He succeeded his father, Zengi, as ruler of Halab in 1146, not long after he had recaptured the county of Edessa from the Crusaders. This victory would kickstart the Second Crusade in response just as Nūr al-dīn took control and offered a banner for Muslims to rally around.

He took back Damascus in 1154 and gradually took over Egypt between 1169 and 1171. But rather than build his personal wealth or prestige he appears to have spent any treasures accumulated on building mosques, schools, roadside inns called caravansaries and hospitals. Much of the Muslim world Saladin would consolidate in the years to come was shaped by the rule of Nūr al-dīn.