real name of Saladin


Two names are synonymous with the Crusades – King Richard of England and Saladin. But Saladin is simply a western corruption of an Arabic honorific (akin referring to Richard as the Lionheart). The great ruler’s personal name was Yusuf, or Joseph. Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn is a laqab, a descriptive epithet that means ‘Righteousness of the Faith’. This was easily compressed and corrupted into Saladin. His name was […]

Righteousness and the Lionheart