Ruler · 1118 to 1174

Nur al-Din Zengi

Son of Zengi. He united Muslim Syria, took Damascus in 1154 and made the war against the crusaders a common cause. He ordered the carved minbar meant for Al-Aqsa that Salahuddin later installed.

At a glance

Lived: 1118 to 1174
Role: Ruler
Era: The Crusades and Salahuddin
Chapter: 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols

Battles

1148
Siege of Damascus
Crusaders withdrew. The Second Crusade fell apart after four days outside Damascus.

Nur al-Din Zengi's world

1190: The Crusades and Salahuddin

The Seljuk win at Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to the Turks, and Byzantium asked Europe for help. The First Crusade took Jerusalem in 1099. Zengi, his son Nur al-Din and then Salahuddin rebuilt Muslim unity, and Salahuddin won back Jerusalem in October 1187, three months after Hattin.

See the 1190 map Read chapter 3

People of the same era

Alp Arslan Salahuddin al-Ayyubi Muhammad Ghori al-Ghazali Ibn Rushd

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