One of two Muslim writers known as Ibn Shaddad (the other being ‘Izz al-Din, the biographer of Baybars), Baha’ al-Din Yusuf ibn Shaddad was born and educated in Mosul. He taught for four years in Baghdad, then in 1173-1174 he returned to Mosul, where he continued to teach, also serving the Zangid rulers as an ambassador. After completing the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1188, he passed into the service of Saladin, who made him qadJ (judge) of the army. He was a close companion of the sultan until the latter’s death in 1193.
In 1195 Ibn Shaddad moved to Aleppo, where he served the Ayyubid rulers as an ambassador and peacemaker until 1232. Although he wrote several works, Ibn Shaddad is best known for his biography of Saladin, al-Nawadir al-Sultdntyya wa‘l-Mahasin al-Yusufiyya (The Rare Qualities of the Sultan and the Merits of Yusuf), which is a vital source for the life of the sultan.
-Niall Christie
Bibliography
Baha’ al-Din Yusuf ibn Shaddad, Al-Nawddir al-Sultdnlyya wa‘l-Mahdsin al-Yusufiyya (Sirat Saldh al-Din), ed. Jamal al-Din al-Shayyal (Al-Qahira: al-Mu’assasa al-Misriya al-‘Amma li’l-Ta’lif wa‘l-Anba’ wa‘l-Nashr, 1964).
-, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, trans. D. S.
Richards (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2001).
Hillenbrand, Carole, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999).
Lyons, Malcolm Cameron, and David E. P. Jackson, Saladin: The Politics of Holy War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
World History
