Saladin

  Studies from Oxford University

  and is the author of several books,

  including Rumi and the Kingdom

  of Joy and The Travels of Ibn

  Battuta. His background as an

  Islamic scholar, with access to

  both original Arabic and western

  sources, has given him a uniquely

  authoritative perspective on

  Saladin and his world.

  £ 25.00

  A . R . A z z ^ m

  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 groundbreaking 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.

  ISBN 978-1-4058-0736-4

  Front cover: Portrait of Saladin (1138-93) (colour litho)

  (detail of 4623), Arabic School / British Library, London,

  UK, © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved /

  The Bridgeman Art Library

  www.pearson-books.com