1.    Saladin was a Muslim warrior born in the year 1138 A.D. in the city Tikrit in what we now call Egypt.

2.    He slew so many Christians during his life-time that there is no recording of the number, but we do know that it had a profound and arresting effect on the spread of Christian teachings in the East.

3.    It was well known in the East that Isa (Jesus) did not teach Christianiny, but was a prophet of Islam.  The infidels of Europe used his name as a shield for their false teachings.

4.    His name was really "Salah-ud-Din" meaning "Honor of the Faith" in Arabic.

5.    He was the first Sultan of Egypt.  After 1104 A.D. the Seljuk Empire had been greatly sub-divided among Turkish Atabegs (War Lords).  For this reason, the major part of Saladin's lifetime was a period of many battles and was partly responsible for the great loss of Christian lives.

6.    He was a Black man born of the tribe of "Kurd" or Armenia.  His father's name was Ayub and his uncle's was Shirguh.  Both of these were generals in the army of Zengi, who was an Atabeg of Mosul.

7.    Saladin went to school at the famous center of learning at Mosul under Nuriddin.

8.    In 1139 A.D. when Saladin was a year old Zengi gave his father Ayub the city of "Balbik", which made Ayub now an atabeg also.

9.    At that time, Nuriddin was the Supreme Captain of all armies and this gave Saladin a great opportunity to observe the techniques of warfare, for both Ayub and Shirguh were close friends of Nuriddin.

10.    In 1154 A.D. (when Saladin was 16 years of age) he lead an army in conquest of Domascus, then the capital of Greece.

11.    From 1164 A.D. to 1174 A.D., his time was spent running out and killing all the Christians that had come into Egypt, causing confusion and mischief among the Righteous.  He also laid the foundation for the reunion of Egypt into one country.  Egypt at that time consisted of many states and districts and encompassed a great portion of the Middle-East.

12.    Between 1174 A.D. and 1186 A.D. Egypt had annexed Syria and Mesopotamia.

13.    When Saladin began his campaign in Egypt at the age of 26, he was appointed by Shirguh as lieutenant to Egypt.  It was during this time that the Europeans were sending hordes of men, just recently out of the caves, into the East to capture the Holy Land in the name of :"Christ".  They were known as the "Crusaders" and the Pope was their Supreme Commander.

14.    In the 5 years that passed between 1164 A.D. to 1169 A.D. Christians saw defeat after defeat and the battle-ground was strewn with their corpses.  Their heads were piled in hugh pyramids and the "Nuizz" would climb to the summit and chant the call to prayer.  This was the period when Saladin's warriors became known as the "Saracens" (Sarasin).  This word came to strike fear into the hearts of the Europeans and even the English monarch Richard the Third (the "Lion-hearted").

15.    In 1171 A.D. Shirguh died of natural causes and this put Saladin into the position of "visior" with the title: "Al-Malik-al-Nassir".

16.    Supreme Captain Nuriddin died in 1174 A.D. All Islam after that became one group lead by Saladin.  The muslims no longer fought against one another over petty grieviances or tribal disputes, but they became strongly unified and rode to battle under one banner - the Star and the Crescent!  They turned all of their forces against the infidels who were invading their homeland, and surely did the heads fly.

17.    From 1177 A.D. to 1180 A.D. Saladin took every Christian head in Syria.  At one time he even captured the King of England, Richard, and held him for a large ransom.  He destroyed Christian army after Christian army sent against him and his name was the cause of panic among the unbelievers.  He cleansed the entire area surrounding Syria of the Europeans.

18.    Then for seven years Saladin enjoyed peace to an extent, until May of 1187 A.D. when Raynard (the Fox) Chatilion of France started the spread of Christianity again and led more Crusaders into the Holy Land.  But this was another defeat for the Christians, and in September of the same year Saladin's army ran through Palestine.  On October the second, Jerusalem was rid of all Christians.

19.    Throughout all of his life Saladin was noted for his generiosity and hospitality towards his brothers and sisters in Islam.  He loved children, was honest, and chivalrous to women and elderly people.  He was looked upon as one of the greatest Champions in Islam.  He possessed the Oriental's power of endurance and always led the charge into batttle with his scimitar gleaming in the sun and causing the heads of the infidels to fly into the air.  He fought many single hand-to-hand combats with the enemy but none of the European Knights had a chance during battle, but in peace he was a sympathetic and kind benefactor.

20.    With all the admirable qualities he possessed there was no doubt that he was an upright and righteous muslim, for he could not possess such qualities except from Allah, The Most High.  It would seem that because of all his battles and conquests and merciless raids against the Christians, he would become hard and lose all feelings of love and compassion for his brothers and become fierce and tyrannical in his rule, the way most latter day conquerors have become, but instead his goodwill and righteousness increased.

21.    When he died in 1193, he died a man who had accomplished what his God, Almighty Allah had commanded unto him, and made possible, for many gnenrations to come, to live in harmony and peace, without the threat of the unbelievers, in the land that Allah had chosen for them.  He made possible for them to acknowledge a religion which was suitable for these lands and cultures, without interference from those who worshipped another strange and alien god.

22.    Seven centuries later Napoleon Bonaparte of France was to send a message to the muslim army, asking most humbly if they would assist him by taking part in an attack on a particulalry difficult European country; so much did he admire their courage and superior knowledge.