Saladin [Hardcover]

Abdul Rahman Azzam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2009

This is the first serious biography of Saladin in over 20 years and the first ever by a non Western scholar. 

This is the first major biography of Saladin, arguably the greatest figure in Islamic history, for 20 years. As famous today as he was when he drove the Crusaders out of Jerusalem, the real Saladin has dissolved into legend with each retelling of his story. This book seeks to redress the balance.

• A unique non-Western perspective on the life of a heroic leader who united Sunni and Shi'ite against the infidel, this is the first biography of Saladin by a Muslim historian in English

• Offers a context for today's struggles in the Middle East

• Contains dispatches and letters of his most trusted adviser and secretary of state, al-Qadi al-Fadil, which reflect Saladin's motives and ideals

Editorial Reviews

Review

"absorbing" - FT Weekend 17 January 2009 (circulation 500,000) "timely and well-written" - Irish News, 10 January 2009 (readership 180,000) "His book is a comprehensive survey not just of the man, but of the age in which he lived" - Edinburgh Evening News, 10 January 2009 (readership 272,000) 

"The strength of Azzam's study lies in illuminating Saladin's many connections with Sunni theologians, jurists and teachers, and their mutually reinforcing activities, such as his foundation of numerous madrassas that embedded Sunni orthodoxy among the Egyptian population, but also turned out trained administrators for his growing empire".
Times Higher Education

From the Back Cover

Saladin was an outsider with a life full of paradoxes. Famed for driving the Crusaders out of Jerusalem, he became the most powerful man in the Islamic Empire. Yet he died penniless, without enough money even to line his coffin.

In this ground-breaking new biography, A. R. Azzam uncovers the real Saladin by placing him in historical context amidst the 10th and 11th century Sunni Revival – the powerful and sweeping intellectual renaissance, which would ultimately transform every field of Islamic thought. Azzam contends that Saladin was not the brilliant military commander of popular imagination but that his true greatness lay in his political and spiritual vision.

This book tells his fascinating and complex story.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 1 edition (January 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405807369
• ISBN-13: 978-1405807364
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > History > Middle East > Syria

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saladin before the Crusade, April 10, 2011

By 

Traveling Grandma (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Saladin (Hardcover)

This is a scholarly book, which I found rewarding for its lucidity and evenness in tone. The author's thesis is that Saladin's greatest achievement took place before 1185-- before Jerusalem and the Third Crusade. "It was Saladin's restoration of Sunni Islam into Fatimid Shiite Egypt that proved to be his greatest legacy," he states in the Prologue.

In the first ten chapters of the book, we learn about Saladin's political rise, his consolidation of power in Egypt with the support of the inestimable al Qadil al Fadil, and the solid group of advisers and military men that Saladin relied on. The effect of this focus on the men around Saladin-- the various roles they played, religious, military, and administrative--is that it gives a three-dimensional quality to the man himself.

The remaining five chapters of the book deal with Saladin's victory at Hattin and the ensuing Third Crusade, and ending with Saladin's death in Damascus. In the final chapter the author gives an insightful assessment of Saladin, bringing the book full circle to the opening Prologue.

The author has focused his lense on Saladin from a different angle, and from this angle I have learned to appreciate Saladin's achievement off the battle fields and in the realm of religion, namely, Sunni ascendancy.