Jusuf ibn-Ayyub, famously known as Saladin, was born in 1138, on the bark of the River Tigris, which is between Iran and Iraq. Even though he was a Kurd by birth, he was an Arab by culture. Saladin captured Jerusalem back from the Latin Kingdom who occupied it for nearly ninety years, and became an idol to all Muslims and Arabs up till know. Gertrude Slaughter, the author of Saladin (11-38-1193) didn't just give a biography of his life, but looked at him as a human being with emotions, desires, hopes and fears like any normal human being.Saladin seemed to have had a normal childhood like any child would. As a child he played with his four brothers and two sisters, which he treated with a gentle consideration, since he treated people later on in his the same way. He liked to mingle and chat with his elders, which made him a better judge of men. All children look up to their parents, and Saladin had a very successful father not only in his job, but also in raising a great son. Slaughter wrote, " he trained his sons to stand together and help one another. At a time when family rivalries caused bitter dissension and even murders, Ayyub's five sons and two daughters were bound together by sincere affections." (p.19) As one could see, Saladin looked up to his father like any normal child would, which helped him grow up to be a great person.As a young adult, Saladin avoided going to the Harem which was a " women's apartment, was the place where men relaxed from business and warfare to enjoy music and poetry, dances and conversation, marionettes, mimes, and lantern shows." (p.24), since he was a religious devotee, absorbed in deeds of piety, and the study of the traditions and the Koran, and Islam prohibited these kind of activities. According to his friend Baha al-Din "'he gave up wine and the pleasures of youth to devote himself to god.'" This shows that he wasn't extraordinary, but a normal man, since lots of Muslim men devoted t...
