SOURCE: “Saladin the Upstart” in Crusades, Facts on File, 1995, pp. 135–47.

In the essay that follows, Jones and Ereira provide a brief overview of Saladin's gradual achievement of military power and comment on the reasons why some contemporary Muslims viewed Saladin as an “upstart.” The critics' evaluation focuses on the apparent discrepancy between Saladin's expansionism (which involved fighting against fellow Muslims) and his claim that his activities were geared toward the conquest of Jerusalem and the goal of expelling Christians from the land.

‘Upon the death of Shirkuh, the advisers of the Caliph al-Adid suggested that he name Yusuf the new Vizier, because he was the youngest, and seemingly the most inexperienced and weakest, of the emirs of the army.’ This is how Ibn al-Athir interpreted Saladin's rise to power. In fact, at the risk of spoiling a good story, the idea that Saladin was a shy, retiring nobody...