وفاة نور الدين محمود

وفاة نور الدين محمود

c. 1174 CE · 569 AH

Damascus

Death of Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi, lord of Syria, the Jazira and Egypt's overlord — Wednesday 11 Shawwal 569, of quinsy, in the small prayer-cell he kept in Damascus citadel; refusing cupping ('a man of sixty is not bled'), buried in the citadel then translated to his madrasa by Suq al-Khawwassin. He had been mustering armies from Mosul and the Jazira to take Egypt from Saladin when death overtook him. Ibn al-Athir's verdict: after the Rashidun and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz he read of no king's conduct finer or more scrupulous in justice 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
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In time

1160117011801190 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

In space

Damascus

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Overview

Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi died on Wednesday, the eleventh of Shawwal 569 AH, of quinsy, according to Ibn al-Athir. He was buried in the citadel of Damascus, and later moved to the school he had founded near the market of the jewellers. 1

His illness

Ibn al-Athir relates from a doctor who served him that when the illness grew severe the physicians advised bloodletting. He said: "A man of sixty does not let blood," and refused, so the medicine did not work. 1

Before his death

Ibn al-Athir says that a few days before his death he began to prepare to enter Egypt to take it from Salah al-Din, because he had seen slackness from him in the war on the Franks. He sent to ask for armies from Mosul, the lands of al-Jazira and Diyar Bakr. 1

Ibn al-Athir's judgement

Ibn al-Athir says that he had studied the conduct of the earlier kings and had seen after the rightly guided caliphs and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz none better than his conduct, nor more careful in pursuing justice. He was born in 511 AH. 1

The Gregorian date is derived from the Hijri date.

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Had participant
نور الدين محمود بن زنكي
Occurred at
Damascus

People and things also explored

نور الدين يفك حصار الفرنج عن دمشق· the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)· Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk· The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus· قطع الخطبة العبيدية وإقامة الخطبة العباسية بمصر· استيلاء العادل على دمشق· موقعة مرج راهط· بناء جامع دمشق

Sources

  1. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir, p. 56
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “وفاة نور الدين محمود”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/death-of-nur-al-din-569/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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نور الدين يفك حصار الفرنج عن دمشق

In 543 the Franks besieged Damascus; Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi, then lord of Aleppo, reached it with his brother Ghazi, lord of Mosul — the Muslims were victorious and the Franks routed. Nur al-Din pressed on against them, taking what they had seized of Muslim lands.