by A R Azzam
occasion, however, piety was not complemented by virtue, as was in the case
of Ibn Shulcr, who became vizier under Saladin's brother al-Adil and who
founded the al-Sahibiyya madrasa. Ibn Shulcr was known for his rapacity and
cruelty; on one occasion he fell seriously ill with dysentery and his doctors
despaired that he would recover. While in acute agony he called for ten
shayldis whom he had imprisoned and then tortured in his presence, so that
their groans mixed with his and he found comfort in their discomfort.
The construction of madrasas continued at a remarkable pace, both in
Egypt and Syria. By the death of Saladin in 1193 there were 30 madrasas in
Damascus. By 1250, 160 new religious and charitable institutions were
founded in Ayyubid Damascus, representing a remarkable spurt of building
growth at an average of just under two buildings every year. Of those 160
buildings, 63 were madrasas and 29 sufi hospices.^' By the middle of the
thirteenth century Cairo and Fustat boasted between them 32 madrasas.
In fact this number is conservative in the extreme, since madrasas could
exist wherever a professor taught. As Berkey emphasises, an open space - the
floor of a mosque, a sufi cell, a private living room - offered a suitable site
for a madrasa.^^ The question of who was behind this remarkable growth
in construction reveals a fascinating and surprising answer: nearly one half
of the patrons from the Ayyubid house were women.'® It does seem that
Saladin's legacy of madrasa buildings was carried on not by the men but
the women members of his dynasty, who had a significant voice in defining
the character of Islam. Khutlu-Khayr, who was the wife of Saladin's eldest
brother Shahanshah, endowed a madrasa on the Upper Sharaf, west of the
walled city of Damascus, as an act of piety,''' as did her daughter Adhra
Khatun, who founded two institutions, the madrasa al-Adhrawiyya (for
both Hanafis and Shafiis) and a sufi convent just inside the city walls. Ismat
al-Din Khatun, who had married both Nur al-Din and Saladin, also left a
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SALADIN
mark on the city, founding a Hanafi madrasa and a sufi hospice. Mention
should also be made of two of Saladin's sisters: Rabia Khatun, who endowed
a Hanbali madrasa in Damascus, almost certainly as a result of her marriage
to one of Saladin's most important generals, Muzaflfar al-Din Keukburi,
who was a Hanbali; and Sitt al-Sham Zumurrud, who endowed two
madrasas. These madrasas were associated with acts of piety - and one can-
not underestimate the role that personal piety and the desire for salvation
played in the commissioning of madrasas. Indeed, the emphasis on the
'political' purpose of madrasas has often tended to overlook the element of
personal piety and the desire, in the words of Makdisi, to draw 'near to God,
the desire to perform good works and to leave a legacy of such good works
pleasing in the eyes of God'.^®
The Sunnification of Egypt
But if the pietistic element needs to be aclcnowledged then so does the
political potential inherent in the madrasa. Perhaps no one understood this
more clearly than al-Qadi al-Fadil, since to a large extent he was the key to
the Sunni transformation which took place in Egypt under Saladin. He was
certainly the final authority in the administration and financing of religious
endowments.^' As a man of considerable experience in administration,
he understood with a piercing clarity what was required, and this was
reflected in the madrasa which he founded in Cairo in 1184. Open to
Malikis and Shafiis, his intention was to emphasise a certain unity of purpose
in strengthening the link between the government and orthodoxy. This
madrasa became associated with the fame of al-Qasim Ibn Firruh al-Shatibi,
who taught and recited Quran there and whose classes were so popular that
students had to scramble to get a seat. The madrasa became one of the most
prominent in Egypt, mainly thanks to its library, which was the largest in the
country and which contained the Quran that belonged to the third caliph
after the Prophet, Uthman. Al-Qadi al-Fadil himself was a remarkably liter-
ary man and when Saladin closed the Fatimid Dar al-Hikma and sold its
books, he purchased many of them. An anecdote also demonstrates the
depth of his learning. We are told that a friend approached him with a
request: his son wanted to read a certain book on poetry and the father
was not sure if he was old enough. What did he advise.> Al-Qadi al-Fadil
called his servant to bring him a copy. The servant arrived carrying 35
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8: T H E M E D D L E S O M E P R I E S T : SALADIN A N D A L - K H A B U S H A N I copies, all written by different scribes. Al-Qadi al-Fadil opened each copy
and immediately recognised the hand of the particular scribe. Finally he
advised his friend that the book was not suitable for boys. Al-Qadi al-Fadil's
aim was simple; in the words of Leiser it was to produce an 'army of
graduates'^" who would fill positions in the Muslim religious hierarchy.
Although referring in particular to the Mamluk period, Leiser captures al-
Qadi al-Fadil's vision when he attributes a military tone to the madrasas,
and writes of the army and the madrasa acting as a vice that began to
squeeze the Christians in Syria and Egypt. In addition the fact that a person
could serve in more than one capacity at the same time, for example a pro-
fessor in a college and secretary in a ministry, helped make the grip of the
vice unbreakable.^'
Saladin was certain that the threat to Islam came not from the Shiites but
from the Christians, and this is reflected in the fact that he carried out no
retaliatory actions against the Ismailis, but instead turned his attention
towards the Christians. Under his rule he ensured that they never again
enjoyed the relative influence that they had previously. Listening to advice
from al-Qadi al-Fadil, who warned against employing Christians in any
branch of the administration, he dismissed them from holding any positions
as overseers of the treasuries or as inspectors. Then he ordered that wooden
crosses be removed from the tops of all churches and banned the ringing of
church bells, as well as the Palm Sunday processions. Christians were also
forbidden to ride horses or mules. Conversions from Coptic Christianity to
Islam increased during this period and this was almost certainly due to the
fact that Christians were being excluded from government positions. The
example of Ibn Mammati, who was initially secretary of the ministry of
the army and whom Saladin eventually promoted to secretary in charge of
all ministries, is a good one. His father, al-Muhadhdhab, had converted
from Christianity to Islam to further his career, and his son flourished under
the Ayyubids. Whether the conversions during this period were purely cos-
metic is hard to say, though it should be noted that Ibn Mammati studied
under al-Silafi. Once again this could have been for purely practical reasons;
a knowledge of law was necessary for appointment in the ministries.
The purge of the civil administration was down alm
ost solely to al-Qadi
al-Fadil, who played a key role in selecting and recommending members
of the civilian elite to serve the new powers in the land. Indeed a recom-
mendation from him was always important in opening the way for former
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SALAD I N
Fatimid administrators to the service of Saladin.^^ AI-Athir-Ibn Bunan,
for example, who had previously served as the head of the office of inspec-
tion for the Fatimids, was handpicked by al-Qadi al-Fadil and accepted
into Saladin's service, where he served as inspector in Alexandria. Another
example is Faldir al-Dawla al-Aswani, who was the stepson of Rashid Ibn
al-Zubayr, who had openly supported Saladin during the siege of Alexandria
and whom Shawar had subsequently put to death. It is interesting how
often the city of Alexandria crops up in the details of those who served
Saladin, though given its history that is not surprising. Al-Qadi al-Fadil
had warned Saladin about the number of Christians and Jews in govern-
ment and had strongly advised him not to appoint any to important
positions. He himself purged from the different diwans a number of
administrators and secretaries whom he considered dangerous to Saladin's
regime, men whose pens, he described, 'were as sharp as thorns'. A1 Maqrizi
writes that al-Qadi al-Fadil purged almost all the Jews and Copts in the
central administration.
Even though the madrasa was not originally intended to promote Islam
at the expense of non-Muslims, the role that it came to play contributed to
that very purpose. In the wake of the Crusades, the madrasas produced a
self-consciously traditionalist and militant Sunni identity.^^ This process of
Sunnification is crucial to understand the bigger picture. Within 200 years
of Saladin's death virtually all the key positions in government were filled by
Muslims who had studied in madrasas. Within this period Muslims com-
peted with Christians in positions which had traditionally been monopolised
by Christians: secretaries, accountants and controllers.^^ Gradually the sheer
number of madrasa-trained Muslims overwhelmed the Christians and, in
that sense, the madrasa proved to be the principal institution that was
responsible for undermining the Christian domination of the government.
But it was not simply among the jurists and administrators that the madrasas
impacted most. Rather, its roots affected the lives of the ordinary Muslims
on a daily basis, as madrasas offered the ulama a platforrh to provide direct
and immediate legal and religious guidance to the Muslim community.
Phrases such as 'he informed the people' ('afada al-nas'), or the 'people
derived benefit from him' ('intafaa al nas bihi'), appear frequently in the
biographies of ulama during this period.^® The presence of professional legal
advisers also meant that Muslims now had a ready access to Islamic law on
a one-to-one basis to help them deal with their daily problems. In that, the
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8: T H E M E D D L E S O M E P R I E S T : SALADIN A N D A L - K H A B U S H A N I fatwa (legal opinion) played a crucial role. We read that the nephew of Ibn
Asakir would sit in the Great Mosque in Damascus twice a week where he
issued fatwas, for which requests came to him from around the Islamic
world.^^ The main difference between the ulama before the establishment of
madrasas and after was that the part-time legal scholars of the seventh to
eleventh centuries had taught and given legal advice on an occasional basis.
Their aim was primarily on pursuing their studies and self improvement.
The professional ulama of the twelfth century, however, accentuated the
dissemination of religious and legal instruction to the community. The
madrasas allowed professional scholars to bring Islamic law and hadith
directly to the community and to interact with them on a one-to-one basis,
resulting in an increased religious awareness and participation by the com-
munity.^® One piece of data bears this out: according to Ibn Asakir, who
died in 1176, there were 420 mosques in Damascus and its suburbs. A few
years later Ibn Shaddad, who died in 1234, listed 649 mosques in the same
area. A rough calculation reveals that about four mosques a year were being
constructed during this period.
The madrasas also performed other ftinctions that were important for
the unity, strength and ftision of Sunni Islam. One of them was as a hostel
for travellers. This had quite far-reaching social implications as it meant that
many merchants, and non-scholars, now took advantage of the free teach-
ing and legal opinions offered by the madrasas. Sometimes they went for
practical matters, for example to get an answer on a legal question relating
to a business deal, but more often than not it was with the purpose of pur-
suit of knowledge and personal piety. Other social ftinctions organically
grew around the presence of the madrasas: colleges seem to have been the
ideal places to conclude marriages, and it appears that this became a perma-
nent ftinction for madrasas. Such social functions could not help but re-
inforce the madrasa as a centre of community activity. Leiser writes that the
madrasa offered the chance for any Sunni Muslim, no matter how poor and
from any ethnic or linguistic background, to receive a higher education.
There was never any discrimination or restriction based on wealth, origin or
language. Madrasas were open to all, so that a farmer's son from a remote
village in Upper Egypt had a chance to go to Cairo, Baghdad or any college
and be trained as a judge or government official.^'^ This brought Muslims
closer together, kept them abreast of theological and political problems and
contributed to the ijma (consensus) regarding the basic principles of Islam.
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SALADIN
In short, the role of the madrasa should not be underestimated in creating
the very concept of the 'Muslim world'.
From Baghdad to Syria and from Syria to Egypt the madrasas spread
rapidly across the Islamic world and their standardised curriculum (admit-
tedly a loose one) allowed them to foster an esprit de corps among the ulama
which existed independently of local political conditions. Of such things
Nizam ul-Mulk could hardly have dreamed, but there is no doubt that he
was the architect of an institution whose impact was profound in a way that
was totally unexpected. The madrasas created an intellectual homogeneity
and it was this homogeneity which was the platform on which Saladin
realised his greatest achievements. In the words of Wiet, the madrasa 'formed
the minds of those who later substantially contributed to the resistance to
Crusader and Mongol alike. It may be justifiably claimed that, politically,
the madrasa saved Islam.
• 136 •
ChpLpter 9
Saladin and the Leper King
Suddenly the Franks appeared, squadrons of them sur^in^f to the attack,
nimble as wolves, barking like do^s, a mass of knights on fire for the battle.
Imad al-Din al-Isfahani
Baldwin IV and the Kingdom of Jerusalem
In July 1176 Baldwin IV came of age and the regency
of Raymond of
Tripoli ended. The peace treaty made by Raymond with Saladin in 1175 was
not ratified by Baldwin and this reflected the growing influence of the hawks
around the young Icing, men such as Joscelin of Edessa and Reynald of
Chatillon. Joscelin was the brother of Agnes of Courtenay, who had been
the wife of Amalric and the mother of Baldwin IV, and he therefore feh that
he could exert considerable influence over his nephew. In 1164 he had been
taken captive by Nur al-Din at the batde of Harim, where he remained a
prisoner until 1176, when Agnes paid his ransom of 50,000 dinars. As for
Reynald, his origins were obscure, though he was probably the son of Henri
of Chatillon, Lord of Chatillon-sur-Loing. As a member of the minor nobil-
ity his story was a familiar one; with no inheritance in Europe, he travelled
to the Holy Land motivated not by religious zeal - a virtue which seems to
have been totally absent in his character - but by the desire to make a for-
tune. Upon his arrival in the East he entered the service of Constance of
Antioch, whom he married in secret. The marriage was frowned upon by
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SALAD I N
Constance's cousin, Baldwin III, because of Reynald's lowly birth. Rapidly
Reynald made his mark; when the Latin patriarch of Antioch refiised to
finance an expedition against Cyprus, Reynald had the patriarch seized,
stripped naked, covered in honey, and left in the burning sun on top of the
citadel. In 1160 Reynald was captured by the Muslims during a plundering
raid and was confined at Aleppo for the next 17 years, until he was released
as part of the truce signed by Saladin and Raymond of Tripoli. The two men
- Joscelin and Reynald - shared a hostility toward Raymond who, they
argued, had weakened the Idngdom. There had been a time - in the wake
of Nur al-Din's death - when Saladin's position was unstable and it still
seemed possible, perhaps not to defeat him, but at least to prevent an
Islamic encirclement. But by 1176 the Franldsh room for manoeuvre had
been much diminished and Joscelin and Reynald were convinced that this
was largely due to Raymond's conduct in foreign affairs while he was
regent.^ Further truces would simply aid Saladin as he slowly strengthened