Name: The Rise of Zengi | Ep. 4 | The Salahuddin Generation
Uploaded: 2025-12-27T16:21:51.000Z
Channel: Dr. Hassan Elwan
Description: Imad ad-Din Zengi revives hope by capturing Edessa, but is quickly assassinated, causing new despair. His son, Nur ad-Din, emerges: a king raised by scholars. He shifts the state from power (dawla) to faith (din) and abolishes all unjust taxes. But can he truly unite Damascus and Aleppo before the...

Assassins’ Friday Killings

Imad ad-Din Zengi: Unity and Justice

Damascus Allies with the Crusaders

Edessa: The Weakest Crusader State

Zengi Assassinated—Hope Collapses Again

Nur ad-Din Zengi’s Lightning Counterattack

Scholars Behind the Revival (al-Jilani & Others)

Reforming the Kurds: A Dangerous Mission

Nur ad-Din Zengi: The Ascetic Ruler

Ends Don’t Justify Means (Leadership Shift)

Sharia Justice vs “Harsh Power”

Taxes Abolished—Charity Explodes

Second Crusade Targets Damascus

Outlasting the Crusader Super-Alliance

Ascalon Falls: Egypt in Danger

Defending Muslims Outside Damascus

Sham United: Mosul, Aleppo, Damascus

Victory Through the Weak (Prophetic Hadith)

Imad ad-Din Zengi revives hope by capturing Edessa, but is quickly assassinated, causing new despair. His son, Nur ad-Din, emerges: a king raised by scholars. He shifts the state from power (dawla) to faith (din) and abolishes all unjust taxes. But can he truly unite Damascus and Aleppo before the Second Crusade returns for revenge?

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The Salahuddin Generation – Official Teaser

The Salahuddin Generation: Knights and Scholars | OFFICIAL TRAILER

The Rise of the Assassins | Ep. 1 | The Salahuddin Generation

Why Jerusalem Fell in the First Crusade | Ep. 2 | The Salahuddin Generation

How Imam Al-Ghazali Built A Generation | Ep. 3 | The Salahuddin Generation

The Rise of Zengi | Ep. 4 | The Salahuddin Generation

3,000 Riders to Egypt: An Impossible Mission | Ep. 5 | The Salahuddin Generation

Salahuddin’s Revolution Begins | Ep. 6 | The Salahuddin Generation

The Plot to Dig the Prophet ﷺ’s Grave | Ep. 7 | The Salahuddin Generation

The Victory That Reopened Jerusalem | Ep. 8 | The Salahuddin Generation

One Sultan vs. All of Europe — Counterattack | Ep. 9 | The Salahuddin Generation

The Man Who Outsmarted Salahuddin | Ep. 10 | The Salahuddin Generation

SERIES FINALE: Salahuddin’s Legacy | Ep. 11 | The Salahuddin Generation

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Dr. Hassan Elwan

The Final March to Jerusalem

Poisoned Wells & War of Attrition

The Night of Duʿa

The Counterstrike at Jaffa

“Islam Has No Greater King”

Salahuddin's One Dream

The Promise of 80,000 Dinars

The Illness of the Sultan

The Flag-Bearer’s Message

His Final Will to His Children

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Islamic history provides a rich resource of wisdom from the Prophet's life and the legacy of scholars to help us navigate present challenges. This heritage offers insights to address current issues and misunderstandings.

History

This final episode of 'The Salahuddin Generation' series covers the concluding chapters of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi's life, beginning with the strategic standoff against Richard the Lionheart during the Third Crusade. After the Battle of Arsuf, Richard's forces marched toward Jerusalem, but Salahuddin fortified the city personally, poisoned wells along the route, and delivered a powerful speech reminding his army of their duty to Allah and the Muslims. A pivotal moment came when Salahuddin, sleepless with worry, was advised by Ibn Shaddad to perform du'a in Masjid al-Aqsa on a Friday between adhan and iqamah in sujood — combining multiple conditions for an accepted supplication. That very day, the Frankish forces halted their advance due to internal divisions, and Richard ultimately declared Jerusalem impossible to take while Salahuddin lived and the Muslims remained united. After a truce of three years and three months was signed — notably not a peace treaty acknowledging the Frankish state — Richard departed heartbroken. Salahuddin then wished to perform Hajj but was advised by scholars that his duty to protect the Muslims prevented him. He fell ill watching the Hajj pilgrims pass and died in Damascus, his face lighting up with a smile as the verse 'wa huwa Rabbul Arsh al-Azim' was recited. Shockingly, the Sultan of Egypt and Sham left only 47 dirhams — not enough for his own burial — having spent everything on the poor and the Muslim cause. His final message, carried by his flag bearer through the cities, warned against attachment to the dunya. His will to his children focused not on defending Jerusalem, but on taqwa, avoiding bloodshed, protecting the hearts of people, and guarding the rights of others (huqooq al-ibad). His legacy — the madrasas, scholars, and institutional infrastructure he built — continued to sustain Islam for centuries, even stopping the Mongols in the following generation.

The Kings Who Swore to Break Him

When Titles Mattered More Than Lives

The Stranger Who Saved Acre

Miracle at the River

The Weapon Built to End It All

Betrayal at Acre

The Frankish Mother

Battle of Arsuf

The Shocking Wedding Proposal

This episode of 'The Salahuddin Generation' covers a critical phase of the Third Crusade, focusing on Salahuddin al-Ayyubi's struggle to defend the Muslim lands against the combined forces of Europe. Facing the massive German army of Frederick Barbarossa, Salahuddin sought help from Muslim rulers, including the Abbasid Khalifa in Baghdad and the ruler of Morocco, but received little meaningful support — the Khalifa sent a mere 20,000 dinars (equivalent to one day's siege expenses) and Morocco's ruler demanded an honorific title Salahuddin refused to grant. Despite this isolation, Salahuddin maintained unwavering tawakkul (reliance on Allah), as documented by his secretary Imad al-Din al-Asfahani. A pivotal turning point came when Frederick Barbarossa drowned crossing a river, causing most of his massive army to disband — an event described as divine intervention. Salahuddin's letter to the Muslim Ummah, calling them to rise without victim mentality and praising the Crusaders' unity and sacrifice as a mirror for Muslim shortcomings, is presented as timeless in its relevance. The episode details the fall of Akka after a two-year siege, including Richard the Lionheart's massacre of 3,000 Muslim prisoners, and the Battle of Arsuf where Salahuddin suffered a tactical setback due to his troops losing discipline. Throughout these trials, Salahuddin was spiritually sustained by letters from the scholar Al-Qadhi Al-Fadhil, who reminded him that true victory lies in maintaining one's character and gratitude to Allah. Salahuddin's chivalry is illustrated by his recovery of a Frankish woman's stolen baby, and his strategic clarity is shown in his firm rejection of Richard's two-state proposal, insisting all the land belongs to the Muslims. The episode ends with Richard beginning his inland march toward Jerusalem for the final confrontation.

Why Victory Triggers Counterattacks

Europe Declares the Third Crusade

The Siege of Tyre Begins

Winter War and Exhaustion

Salahuddin’s Greater Vision

The Siege of Acre Begins

Epidemic Spreads Through the Armies

Salahuddin Becomes Gravely Ill

The Egyptian Army Arrives

Barbarossa Enters the War

The Largest Crusader Army Assembled

The Battle of Hattin Begins

The Capture of the "True" Cross

A Decisive Victory Without Slaughter

Why Jerusalem Was Not Taken Immediately

Balian’s Moral Dilemma

The City Is Taken Without Bloodshed

Al-Aqsa Found in Ruins

The Pulpit of Nur ad-Din Is Installed

The death of Nur ad-Din Zengi

The fragile unity falls apart

Salahuddin returns to Damascus

The girl who stopped Salahuddin's army

The Assassins’ ceasefire with Salahuddin

Building Egypt, uniting al-Sham, keeping the Crusaders at bay

Reynald of Châtillon, the rogue Crusader knight

Reynald’s plot to dig the Prophet ﷺ’s grave

Salahuddin spares his enemy’s wedding

Salahuddin strategy to trap the Crusaders

Salahuddin’s major sin during his youth

Salahuddin as an example of Muslim masculinity

The scholars around Salahuddin

Generosity of Rabia Khatun, Salahuddin’s sister

The Crusaders’ navy attacks Egypt

Abolishing the Ismaili caliphate

Time to liberate Jerusalem, or too soon?

A conspiracy by the Assassins, Crusaders, and Ismaili loyalists

Nur ad-Din Zengi’s bloodless conquest of Damascus

Asad ad-Din Shirkuh and and the race for Egypt

The Battle of Harim (Zengids vs. Crusaders)

Resilience of Shirkuh and 3,000 Muslim knights

The Zengids’ second attempt to take Egypt

Shirkuh’s brilliant strategy

Shirkuh’s surprise in Alexandria

Saving Cairo from the Crusaders

Introduction

How Muslims Really Saw the Crusaders

Why Muslims “Smelled the Army” Before Seeing It

The Real Consequence of Living Beside Muslims

The Crusader's Coastline Advantage

Real Help Arrives… and Gets Betrayed

The Road of Change is Painful

When Muslims Unite… Against Muslims

A Power Vacuum in Aleppo

“Five Dogs” in a Dream…

Two Scholarly Strategies

The C vs A+ Problem: Ceasefire vs Liberation

Imam Al Ghazali Walks Away

A New Power Rises

The Salahuddin Generation

The Assassins had a pattern. They made it a point that their crime should be done in front of as many people as possible. Their best thing was the masjid, and they definitely favored Friday, especially the sermons. You know the khutbah. Why? The assassins wanted to make sure when we assassinate someone, let as many people see it, which will strike fear in the hearts of everybody else. That's their main target. So we saw how events happened last time and it ended up that Al-Bursuqi got assassinated. And when that happened, again, you can sense the frustration of Muslims. Is it every time that when somebody tries to raise the banner of the truth and starts to do something, he gets assassinated and it seems that we go back to square one? Nevertheless, in this episode, we will see hope. Because what happened at the time? People said maybe his son should be the one that rules. And now we have two cities, Al-Mosul and Aleppo together. It was the fuqaha, it was the qadi, the faqih of Al-Mosul, Baha al-Din al-Shahrazuri, that went and said this cannot be. His son is too young and the state of the Muslims in the time need a more powerful ruler, need someone who has experience to take the affairs of the Muslims. And he proposed someone, one of the commanders of Al-Bursuqi, one that was with Al-Bursuqi and earlier was fighting with Mawdud too, a commander that knows very well politics and knows very well the state of affairs of soldiers and has fought the Franks and the Crusaders before. This man was Imad al-Din Zengi. And with him in power, a new era started, the era of the Zengids. And I want you to notice something. From now on, you'll see that the names start to change. You know, when you look to the names before that, you'll find Shams al-Dawla, Najm al-Dawla. Dawla means the state. So people would call themselves the star of the state, the sun of the state. Now you'll start seeing something interesting. From now on, the names started to change. You have what? Shihab al-Din, Najm al-Din, Baha al-Din, Salah al-Din. You notice that? The word Din, Din, Din, the star of the Din. The word Din replaced Dawla, which tells us about something that started happening within this generation. So here we have Imad al-Din Zengi that comes to power. Now Imad al-Din, he was really a soldier, but he accompanied al-Bursuqi and fought so much the crusaders. When he came into power, I would say he has two elements that would characterize his rule. Number one was unity. We cannot fight the Franks. We cannot fight an enemy that's united if we are dispersed. We have to unite Muslims together. So to establish unity, he fought other Muslim rulers. He will bring more cities in by the sword, if you will. And he said, those are treacherous rulers. We can't win this way. What should I do? If they don't want to come under me, let me take their cities by force, if you will. So he started fighting more and more, sometimes against Muslims with the idea that I'm trying to unite the Muslims. But then the second point was justice. That without justice, there is no success. And justice has to be established. Now, the way he did this was interesting. He started with his own soldiers. He noticed that soldiers are kind of mercenaries. They fight for one emir and when he dies, they switch allegiance and they fight for money and they oppress people left and right. And he said, no, no, no, no. My army has to be well disciplined. The army of Imad al-Din Zengi is well paid. He will take good care of them. He will take good care of their families. In return, soldiers have to be disciplined. Soldiers must not oppress anybody. So that was one attitude. And the second thing, the way to establish justice was harsh punishment. And he used to say to some of his soldiers, if I hear that you oppressed any of the farmers or any of the people, I will crucify you myself. Very strict in punishment. And some scholars, of course, do not agree with this harsh attitude. Nevertheless, Imad al-Din now started doing what? Trying to unify the Muslims more and more and more. And indeed, in his time, his state started growing gradually and gradually and gradually. And then eventually he realized, now that we have the city of al-Mosul and the city of Aleppo, there is one big city in Sham that needs to be united with them, which is the capital of Sham, the city of Damascus. And as such, the ruler of the city of Damascus became very wary of Imad al-Din Zengi. What do you think he did? Now being afraid Imad al-Din Zengi is powerful, now he has a powerful army, Damascus is threatened, what should he do? He went to the Franks and asked the help of the crusaders. Let's join forces against the common enemy. If he tries to attack me, I'll seek your aid and then you can come and then you can help me against him. And indeed, Imad al-Din at one point laid siege to the city of Damascus. And Damascus is a very well fortified city. And the siege dragged and Imad al-Din, despite his efforts, he c…

The Salahuddin Generation

Dr. Hassan Elwan

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