Mu'tamin al-Khilafa

Mu'tamin al-Khilafa, a eunuch in the palace of al-Adid, the last of the Fatimid caliphs, who held authority over it. Salah al-Din killed him in early Dhu al-Qa'da 564 AH, and Ibn al-Athir says that his killing was the cause of the battle of the Sudan. ²

Ibn al-Athir relates that he agreed with a group of Egyptians to write to the Franks and summon them to strengthen themselves against Salah al-Din. ²

His plan was that, when Salah al-Din went out to meet the Franks, he would rise with those with him against the soldiers who stayed behind, and they would come at him from behind. ²

A Turkman man carrying the letter met a man at al-Bi'r al-Bayda, became suspicious of his new sandals, slit them open and found the letter. The scribe of the letter, who was a Jew who had converted to Islam under torture, pointed to the plot. ²

Mu'tamin al-Khilafa stayed in the palace out of fear, then went out to his village of al-Kharqaniyya. Salah al-Din sent men who seized him and killed him, and brought his head. ²

The Gregorian date (around August 1169 CE) is derived from the Hijri date. ³