but that achievement pales into insignificance in comparison to his ability to
hold his disparate army together in the field for five years. He himself had
hinted at this when he exclaimed that 'If I were to die, it is very unlikely that
these soldiers would ever come together again', but he now understood that
the troops would fight no more.
The arrival of al-Mansur, son of Taqi ul-Din, was always going to cause
a certain amount of trepidation, for not only had he defied Saladin but had
rebelled against him and consequently caused great trouble. But now he
rode into Saladin's camp, at the head of his men, ready for the holy war. It
was al-Zahir who first greeted him and, when the moment was opportune,
he was escorted into Saladin's tent. If he had been apprehensive about
the reception he would get, he need not have worried, for Saladin rose to
greet him and he embraced him for a long time. And perhaps because he
resembled his father, or perhaps because in his manner there was a likeness,
Saladin began to weep 'in a way that had never been seen before', for the
sight of al-Mansur reminded him of his nephew.
Peace negotiations and the departure of Richard
In the meantime Richard had fallen ill, seriously ill. The astonishing feats of
bravery and his boundless energy had taken its toll and now he lay incapa-
citated. The French were preparing to return home, flirther debilitating his
forces, but he continued to rage and, close to death, he sent defiant mes-
sages to Saladin, though on at least one occasion he also requested some
fruit and snow for his fever. Saladin, true to his nature, sent the fruit, but
when one of his advance guard reported how weak the defences of Jaffa
were, Saladin once more attempted to rally his troops to advance on the
city. 'Unlike other princes', he said, 'I do not prefer a life of ease to the holy
war.' There is no doubt that Saladin would have continued fighting until
Richard had set sail, and this perhaps was the conclusive proof that his
dedication to the holy war was sincere, for he continued to be defiant when
others had given up. But there was no march on Jaffa; rapidly his amirs
persuaded him that, if pushed, the Franks would continue to fight, but if a
truce could be agreed, they would depart.
The terms of the truce were drawn up. The Franks would have the coun-
try from Jaffa to Tyre, but not Ramla and Lydda and some other towns.
Richard demanded compensation for Ascalon, and eventually Saladin agreed
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SALAD I N
that the revenues of Ramla and Lydda would be shared. As for Ascalon, it
would be demolished and both sides would confirm that this had been
done. This was a truce - not peace - and the truce, it was agreed, would run
for three years and eight months, after which hostilities would resume. Till
the end, Saladin remained reluctant to the terms, since he feared that when
hostilities did resume the Muslim leaders would not unite as they had done:
I do not know what will ha-ppen to me cmd the enemy will£row strong. He
hds those la-nds left to him [referrin£i to the coastal cities] so that he can come out to recover the rest. Tou will see all the Muslim leaders sittin£i at the top
of their towers and saying 'I shall not come down', and the Muslims would
be destroyed.
But the fighting was over for the time being. When the terms were pre-
sented to Richard, he was too ill to read them and simply declared, 'I
have made peace: here is my hand'. The new Idng of the Latin Kingdom,
Henry of Champagne, and other Franks took the oath, and on the same day
al-Adil, Al-Afdal and al-Zahir as well as other amirs swore the oath. Later,
Saladin held a reception and peace was proclaimed.
j ^ d finally it was over - a debilitating exhausting war that had ruined
the land and caused tremendous upheaval. No side had won. Saladin had
remained defiant and Jerusalem had not fallen but Richard had secured vital
coastal routes through which new armies could pour in. The two armies had
foilght each other to a standstill and the two central figures, Richard and
Saladin, so different in character and abilities, had remained resolute and
defiant to the end. A final incident as Richard was leaving captures their
characters eloquendy. 'Do not think I am not returning', warned Richard,
'and when I do I will talce Jerusalem'. To this warning Saladin replied that
if he had to lose Jerusalem he would rather lose it to Richard than to any
other. Christian pilgrims flooded into Jerusalem, as the terms of the truce
allowed them to. Richard himself chose not to make the pilgrimage and the
two men would never meet: it was the Bishop of Salisbury who led the pil-
grims to the holy places. But when Richard asked that the French be refused
access, Saladin ignored him and allowed all those who wished to visit to do
so. He had no intention of entering into the disputes of the Christians; his
accommodating behaviour and welcome of the pilgrims was partly due to
his generous nature and also to the fact that he wanted as many pilgrims
to pass through so that they could finally depart. Meanwhile Richard had
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moved to Acre, where his health slowly improved, and from there he set sail.
The Lionheart had finally departed.
The Third Crusade was a succession of military reverses for Saladin and
a catalogue of debilitating and fractious internal struggles among his amirs,
which often verged on mutinies. The massacre at Acre had shaken him up
considerably and he had been unable to prevent Richard's inexorable march
down the coast. At the end, he was forced to destroy the cities which he had
conquered, to prevent them from falling to Richard, including his precious
Ascalon. And yet, in that dark hour, as he fortified himself in Jerusalem
awaiting the final assault, Saladin had realised an achievement which was
even greater than his victory at Hattin. To have won Jerusalem for the sake
of the holy war was a considerable feat, to have not lost it was an even
greater one. In the words of Gibb, 'It was by sheer force of personality, by
the undying flame of faith within him, and by his example of steadfast
endurance, that he inspired the dogged resistance which finally wore down
the invaders'.''
• 231 •
Chapter 15
Death in Damascus:
Saladin's Last Days
Tonight Tmufhds left the prison. This world is the prison of the believer and
the paradise of the disbeliever.
Al-Qadi al-Qadi al-Fadil
Saladin remained in Jerusalem until he was certain that Richard had
departed Acre for Europe. The past few years had taken a terrible toll on
his health, brought on by the depression - one is tempted to say the trauma
- induced by the Third Crusade.^ When Ibn Shaddad suggested that it
was time that he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, which was a religious
obligation for all Muslims, he readily agreed and preparations began to be
made as to who would accompany him. It was the sage al-Qadi al-Fadil,
however, who saw the bigger political picture and the implications involved
and who approached Saladin and advised that perhaps it was not the best
time for him to go on pilgrimage. He pointed out that Saladin had not
informed the caliph of his intention and that a move towards Mecca might
be seized upon and misinterpreted in Baghdad by those who misinterpret
such matters. In any case the danger of the Franks had not passed com-
pletely and Jerusalem remained vulnerable. The empire was as exhausted as
its sultan, he explained. Disturbances over the lack of food and the admin-
istrative abuses had broken out in Damascus, and in Cairo there had even
been pro-Fatimid demonstrations. A special tax had been proposed to raise
money for the banlcrupt chancery, but it had been insufficient to meet the
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15: D E A T H I N DAMASCUS: S A L A D I N ' S LAST DAYS
needs of the war, and in Alexandria foreign traders were forced to pay taxes
of up to 25 per cent of the value of the goods. Perhaps Saladin should
reconsider and not go this year, for matters had not yet settled. As was often
the case, Saladin listened to the words of his old friend and decided to post-
pone his pilgrimage to the following year. In fact he would never perform
this religious obligation. In the meantime he insisted, against the advice of
his doctor, to make up the days of fasting which he had missed. Al-Qadi
al-Fadil had kept a record of how many days Saladin had been unable to
fast due to illness, and he now fasted 'for more than a month' while in
Jerusalem, to make up for the lost days.
The return to Damascus
In November I I 9 2 Saladin returned to Damascus. This was the first time
since April 1189 that he had returned to the city that had become his centre
of power. He briefly thought about continuing on to Egypt but instead
decided to spend the winter in Syria. Shortly afterwards al-Adil arrived,
and he could not but notice a marked deterioration in Saladin's health. The
brothers spent time together and for up to two weeks they rode into the
desert to hunt gazelle. At night and under the stars they talked about many
things. Egypt was an important subject; as a young man Saladin had vowed
never to return to that land but he had grown to love it. The country's con-
tribution to his war effort had been nothing short of prodigious, as nearly
three-quarters of its national expenditure had been spent on supplying him
with troops and weapons. Without Egypt, Jerusalem would never have fallen
to him, and without Egypt, Jerusalem would have been lost. The two brotliers
were convinced that once the truce was over the Franks would come again,
but that this time their focus would be on the land of the Nile. The events of
the past few months had proven that, and Egypt's defences needed urgentiy
to be overhauled. But as the brothers talked, al-Adil was struck by how hard
Saladin found it to concentrate and this worried him greatly. But it also
made him think, for though he had served his brother with great loyalty he
remained unconvinced by his eldest nephew and heir apparent, al-Afdal,
who struck him as being arrogant, and this began to play on his mind. AVhen
the hunting trip was over al-Adil returned to his lands, which lay on the
other side of the Euphrates, and it was agreed that with the onset of spring
Saladin would travel to Egypt. The two brothers would not meet again.
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SALAD I N
In the meantime al-Afdal, as his uncle feared, was increasingly becoming
the centre of the court attention and many followers-on flocked to him.
At the end of the winter, in February 1193, Ibn Shaddad arrived from
Jerusalem and walked into the sultan's chamber, only to find al-Afdal sur-
rounded by his supporters, for Saladin had chosen to remain in his private
chambers. The sight of al-Afdal sitting where Saladin often sat disturbed Ibn
Shaddad, and he moved silently away and headed for the private chamber,
where he requested permission to enter. It had been four months since the
two men had met and Saladin greeted and hugged his companion warmly,
with tears in his eyes. But the signs of the deterioration in his health wor-
ried Ibn Shaddad, who noted that Saladin's movements were lethargic and
that he found it hard to concentrate. The following day Ibn Shaddad arrived
in the garden where Saladin was seated with his young children. One of
them, Abu Bakr, was clearly his favourite and was seated on his laiee. Saladin
was informed that a Prankish envoy had arrived with a message and he
ordered that he be brought to the garden. When the Frank entered tiiough,
the young Abu Bala- was so scared of this beardless man that he burst into
tears and the envoy was asked to leave for a few minutes. Saladin then had
a light meal with Ibn Shaddad, but as the latter took his leave he noted that
a lassitude hung over Saladin's actions. 'I took my leave of him, not having
found him to be as lively as I had known him.'
Saladin's illness
On 20 February, three days after he arrived in Damascus, Ibn Shaddad rode
out to greet the returning pilgrims, as was the custom. It was a raw day,
with a bitterly cold wind. The arrival of the returning pilgrims was always a
festive occasion and as the crowds gathered Ibn Shaddad spotted Saladin in
the distance, but on trying to approach him he was sidetracked by al-Afdal,
Shaddad glanced over in the direction of Saladin and noticed with surprise
that he had forgotten to wear his quilted jacket. This alarmed him greatiy
and he broke away from his conversation and urged Saladin to put his jacket
on. Once again he was struck by the lack of concentration, and he wrote
that it was as if Saladin was waiting up from a dream. For some reason the
jacket could not be found, and the day passed. But the chill remained and
the following day Saladin was running a high temperature. By now al-Qadi
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al-Fadil and Ibn Shaddad were in constant attendance. The illness was
getting worse, though Ibn Shaddad was moved by the humility of Saladin.
On the fourth day of his illness he was bled. On the sixth day of the illness
he called for some water to drink. First it was too hot and then it was too
cold, but Ibn Shaddad remarked that Saladin did not get angry, simply
remarldng, 'Is there no one here who can make water of the right tem-
perature?' The illness was worsening and Saladin's mind was drifting. By the
ninth day he stopped taldng any liquid and a feverish shiver gripped him and
he was barely conscious. It was clear he was dying.
Fear spread across the city and the traders began to store their goods,
since no one knew what would happen if Saladin were to die. Every evening
al-Qadi al-Fadil and Ibn Shaddad travelled to Saladin's chambers and the
people watched them closely, for the level of anxiety etched on their faces
reflected the gravity of the sultan's illness. On the eleventh day Saladin was
too ill to receive any visitors and al-Afdal offered t
o accommodate the two
men for the night, but al-Qadi al-Fadil insisted that they leave the citadel,
as they did eveiy night, since their absence would make people think that
the worst had happened and disturbances would follow. In the meantime
the josding for power had commenced; al-Afdal asked that the amirs pub-
licly swear allegiance to him and some did but others, seeking assurances,
did not. Ominously, no attempt was made to get the allegiance from the
amirs of Egypt, Aleppo and Mesopotamia, since it was acknowledged that
for the time being no allegiance would be sworn.
Saladin's death and the mourning of the people
On 4 March 1193 Saladin was drifting in and out of consciousness. With
him was the imam Abu Jafar, who was reciting verses from the Quran, and
fittingly also present was al-Qadi al-Fadil, Saladin's most trusted compan-
ion. For 25 years the two men had complemented each other, though they
were in so many ways different: a Kurdish military warrior and a hunch-
backed Palestinian bureaucrat. They shared a vision and that vision had
endured and transcended their differences. Now, as al-Qadi al-Fadil sat
near, the imam recited, and when he had completed the verse 'He is God
other than whom there is no other god, who knows what is invisible and
what is visible', a smile broke out on Saladin's face and he mumbled 'It is
true', before passing away, aged 55.
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SALAD I N
That day Saladin's sons went into the streets of Damascus to receive the
condolences of the people. There was great consternation in the city and
then, as the news spread, it carried the consternation with it across the lands.
It was the only time, an observer remarked, that a ruler's death had been
truly mourned by his people. Saladin died leaving in his treasury in gold and
silver only 40 Nasiri dirhams and a single Tyrian gold piece. As Ibn Shaddad
wrote, the powerful Saladin left behind no house, no estate, no orchard, no
village, not a single item of property of any sort. There was not enough
money to pay for his funeral. Not even enough to buy straw with which his
tomb was lined, and the cost had to be borrowed. Al-Afdal held the con-
dolence in the north vaulted hall, and the gates for die citadel were barred