Birth: Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi

All stops in this story

1. Birth: Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi — c. December 1117 CE · Shawwal 511 AH

   Lord of Aleppo then Syria; he relieved Damascus from the Frankish siege in 543 with his brother Ghazi and kept retaking what they held — never slackening in jihad. He took Damascus in Safar 549, and al-Muqtafi deeded him Egypt as 'al-Malik al-Adil .

2. Nur al-Din Lifts the Frankish Siege of Damascus — c. 1148 CE · 543 AH

   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 .

3. The Battle of Safed and the Taking of Gaza, Banias and Shayzar in 552 — c. 1157 CE · 552 AH

   In 552 Nur al-Din routed the Franks at Safed — a great battle — and took Gaza and Banias from the Franks while Shayzar passed to him from the Banu Munqidh .

4. Nur al-Din Takes the Fortress of Safita from the Franks in 561 — c. 1165 CE · 561 AH

   In 561 Nur al-Din took the fortress of Safita (Castel Blanc) from the Franks .

5. Asad al-Din Shirkuh's first expedition to Egypt — c. 1167 CE · 562 AH

   In 562 Nur al-Din sent Asad al-Din Shirkuh with two thousand horse to Egypt; camped at Giza, besieging two months, till its lord called the Franks who came through Damietta. Shirkuh withdrew to the Sa'id, beat a larger army killing Frankish thousands, levied the Sa'id's kharaj — while the Franks besieged Alexandria, taken by his nephew Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, four months till Shirkuh came and they withdrew to Syria .

6. Nūr al-Dīn acquires Qalʿat Jaʿbar from its 'Aqilid lords — c. 1168 CE · 564 AH

   Qalʿat Jaʿbar — among the strongest castles, overlooking the Euphrates east bank, held by the Āl Mālik al-ʿAqilī since Malikshāh — passed to Nūr al-Dīn. Its lord Shihāb al-Dīn Mālik had been seized by Banū Kilāb while hunting and delivered to Nūr al-Dīn; refusing both inducement and threats, he yielded only when Majd al-Dīn Ibn al-Dāya counseled taking compensation: Sarūj and its lands, the Malāḥa district between Aleppo and Bāb Buzāʿa, and 20,000 dinars down. Asked which he preferred, he said «this is more money, but honor parted from us with the castle» .

7. Shirkuh enters Egypt, Shawar is killed, and Shirkuh takes the vizierate — c. 1168 CE · 564 AH

   In Rabīʿ I Shirkuh entered Egypt with the Nūrid armies and took it. The Franks had stormed Bilbays — killing and enslaving — then besieged Cairo while Shawar burned Fusṭāṭ (the fire ran fifty-four days) and bought their withdrawal for a promised million dinars; al-ʿĀḍid had sent his womenfolk's hair to Nūr al-Dīn begging rescue. When Shirkuh arrived Shawar was killed — as commonly told, Saladin's hand at his uncle's order — and Shirkuh took the vizierate, dealt justly with the people, then died days later, choked, it was said, on a feast of rich food .

8. Nūr al-Dīn besieges al-Karak — c. 1169 CE · 565 AH

   Nūr al-Dīn laid siege to al-Karak, among the strongest Frankish strongholds in the land of Moab east of the Dead Sea — their great base of refuge .

9. The Frankish siege of Damietta (564 AH) — c. October 1169 CE · Safar 564 AH

   Safar 564 (Oct–Dec 1169): Frankish Syria, reinforced by fleets answering appeals to Sicily and al-Andalus, besieged Damietta fifty days; Saladin fed it men and money down the Nile while Nur al-Din loosed his raiders deep into the emptied Frankish lands — the besiegers withdrew to find their own country wasted, in Ibn al-Athir's proverb the ostrich that went out seeking horns and came back without ears .

10. Nūr al-Dīn takes Mosul and confirms Sayf al-Dīn Ghāzī upon it — c. 1171 CE · 567 AH

    Nūr al-Dīn entered and took Mosul, then confirmed Sayf al-Dīn Ghāzī ibn Mawdūd as its lord — continuing the city-by-city gathering of Syria and the Jazira until his fellow kings kept only their names .

11. Ending the Ubaydid Khutba and Restoring the Abbasid Khutba in Egypt — c. September 1171 CE · Muharram 567 AH

    Al-Imad al-Katib: Salah al-Din opened the year 567 with Egypt's greatest obedience — the Abbasid khutba, first Jumu'a at Fustat's mosque, the second at Cairo; al-Adid died that Ashura, and the palace's treasures sold for ten years. Shihab al-Din ibn Abi Asrun bore the news to Baghdad, and al-Imad wrote a general proclamation read across the lands of Islam — 'no minbar remains in those lands but the khutba for our lord al-Mustadi' is upon it'. Ibn al-Athir adds: Nur al-Din ordered it, Salah al-Din feared an Egyptian rising, and the Ajami called al-Amir al-Alim mounted the minbar before the khatib and prayed for al-Mustadi' — 'not two goats butted over it'. The khutba spread to Yemen, Barqa, Tawzar and Egypt to Aswan; Ibn al-Jawzi wrote his book al-Nasr ala Misr .

12. the hidden estrangement between Nūr al-Dīn and Saladin — c. 1172 CE · 568 AH

    A private estrangement opened between Nūr al-Dīn and Saladin, concealed from the public: Saladin had hurried back to Egypt after taking Ayla without leave, and kept back Egypt's money from him — until Nūr al-Dīn thought of marching on Egypt to take it from his hand .

13. Death of Nur al-Din Mahmud — c. 1174 CE · 569 AH

    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 .

14. Death: Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi — c. 1174 CE · 569 AH

    Lord of Aleppo then Syria; he relieved Damascus from the Frankish siege in 543 with his brother Ghazi and kept retaking what they held — never slackening in jihad. He took Damascus in Safar 549, and al-Muqtafi deeded him Egypt as 'al-Malik al-Adil .