Saladin, the great Muslim warrior of the Crusades, an Egyptian coin

One of the most famous people connected to the Crusades was Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, better known as "Saladin".

Saladin was born in AD 1137 and died in AD 1193.

In AD 1187 he had become king of both Egypt and Syria and founded the Ayyubid Sultanate.

In July 1187 he had amassed a huge army. At a place called Hattin which was near Jerusalem his army fought a decisive battle with a Crusader army, totally defeating them. Shortly after his troops took the city of Jerusalem from the Christians who had occupied it since AD 1099.

Later Crusaders including England's King Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) had dealings with Saladin.

During the Covid era I read Steven Runciman's three-volume 1951-1954 A History of the Crusades twice.

I finally managed to acquire an Egyptian coin issued by Saladin.


Ayyubid Sultanate Dinar, Saladin, Cairo, AH 584 (AD 1188)
Gold, 21.0 mm, 6.80 gm
Mint: Cairo (al-Qahira) Egypt

Obverse:
Ring outer: Quran Surah 9:33:
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth that he might make it supreme over all religions although the polytheists disliked it.
Ring inner: King Saladin, High Quality
Center: Yusuf ibn Ayyub

Reverse:
Ring outer: In the name of God the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, this dinar was struck in Cairo in the year 584
Ring inner: There is no god but Allah.
Abu al-Abbas al-Nasir, Defender of the Faith, Commander of the Faithful
Center: al-Imam Ahmad (Leader Ahmad)
(Abu al-Abbas al-Nasir and Ahmad are both names of the Abbasid Caliph)

This coin was minted in AH 584 which ran from AD 1188-03-02 to 1189-02-18, a year after the battle of Hattin.

The Ayyubid Sultanate was a Sunni Islamic kingdom which lasted from AD 1171 to 1260. Its territory included most of North Africa, Egypt, part of Palestine, Syria, and part of Iraq. Its capital moved around from Cairo to Damascus and back to Cairo.

He abolished the Shiite Fatimid Caliphate and aligned his regime with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate headquartered in Baghdad.

Both Misr and al-Qahira were used as names for the mint location in Cairo. The names were Misr which meant Egypt and al-Qahira which meant Cairo.

Some verses from the Quran are frequently used on Islamic coins. A Quran Surah is a chapter.

The coin dates are in Islamic lunar years which start from AD 622 and are 355 days long. They are abbreviated "AH" and the formula for converting an AH year to an AD year is (AH Year)*0.97 + 622.

The mintage year of the coin is spelled out, for example, year 186 is "six and eighty and one hundred". These spellings have been converted to numbers.

 

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A very interesting looking coin. Thanks for sharing it.

 

@willieboyd2, great coin ... and gold also. Thanks for sharing.

Salah al-Din has always been a personal favorite of mine. When the First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099, there was an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women, and children by the victorious crusaders. When Salah al-Din eventually recaptured the city in 1187, he spared the women and children and allowed almost all of the remaining men to leave unharmed.

And his conversion of Egypt from the Shiites to the Sunnis is why Egypt and surrounding states are Sunni today.