Ominous Words of Salah ad-Din About Our Ummah, The

"After I die, you will see these Muslims fall apart in disunity, and you will see the Europeans grow strong. The best thing to do for now is to continue the fight until we drive them from the Coast (of Palestine) or die."

This is a statement of Salah ad-Din Abu'l-Afdal Yusuf ibn al-Ayyub, popularly known as "Saladin" in the West, as recorded by his personal companion and scribe, Ibn Shaddad (page 203 of his chronicles). Saladin stated this after King Richard of England proposed that Saladin's brother, Sayf ad-Din (popularly known as "Safadin" in the West), should marry his siter Joanna. So admirable was Saladin's character that his worst enemy who had traveled over 2000 miles to eliminate him, ended up offering his own sister to his family. This is the result of Perfect Islamic Ikhlaq and 'Adab.

Also, Saladin stated in regards to the troubles he endured uniting the entire Muslim world under one banner:

"I do not know what will happen to me, if Allah wills that the enemy should grow strong. They have established a base from which they can retrieve other lands. you will see these Muslim leaders sitting at the tops of their grandiose towers saying, 'I shall not come down,' until the Muslim world will be destroyed."

How did Saladin destroy his enemies, drive the Franks from Jerusalem and most of Palestine, and be written of so well by the European historians whose people he defeated? This is how:

"On July 3 Salah ad-Din performed the Friday prayer in the Mosque of Al-Aqsa, I saw him prostrating and repeating his prayers over and over again as his tears soaked the prayer mat."

The Death of Saladin

On February 20, 1193, Saladin rode out to meet the Pilgrims returning from the Hajj in Makkah. He had longed to perform the Hajj his entire life, but the constant Jihad did not allow such. That night he fell ill and broke out into a tempestuous fever. On the fourth day of his illness they had him bled, which was a tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Saladin would not stop sweating. On the ninth day of his illness he stopped taking liquids. By March 3 on the eleventh day of his illness, Saladin had sweat so much that the bed was soaked and the floor stained. The scholars who witnessed this testified to it being a match to the description of a good death in the Sunnah.

On the morning of March 4, 1193, the Imam Abu Ja'far was reciting from the Qur'an as Saladin's son Al-Afdal, and his friend and administrator Al-Fadil, as well as others looked on. As the Imam reached following verse of Surah At-Tawbah, the Qur'anic chapter most associated with Jihad:

" ... Hasbunallaahu la ilaha illa huwa; 'alayhi tawakalt; wa huwa Rabbu'l-'Arshi'l-'Athim."

" ... Allah sufficeth me; There is no god but He; On Him is my trust; He is the Lord of the Throne Supreme!"

Saladin smiled from ear to ear, and breathed his last.