Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din

Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din (Arabic: الأفضل بن صلاح الدين‎‎, "most superior"; c. 1169 – 1225) popularly known as Al-Afdal (الأفضل), was one of seventeen sons of Saladin. He succeeded his father as the second emir of Damascus.

Biography

Al-Afdal was one of the Ayyubid commanders at the Battle of Arsuf, when Saladin was defeated by Richard I of England and the forces of the Third Crusade. When Saladin died in 1193, al-Afdal inherited Damascus, but not the rest of his father's territories; Egypt was claimed by his brother al-Aziz, where he was already installed as governor, and Aleppo by another brother az-Zahir. As his father was dying, al Afdal summoned all the emirs then at Damascus to swear allegiance to him. Al-Afdal was in theory the head of the Ayyubid dynasty, but he was not able to exert any level of authority over his siblings, and soon proved that he had little ability as a ruler.^[1]

In May 1194 al-Afdal was attacked by his own brother, al-Aziz, in his capital Damascus. The uncle of both, al-Adil, marched down from the Jezira and brokered a peace. This was broken within a year and al-Aziz again marched on Damascus, but was driven back to Egypt by al-Afdal. In 1196, al-Adil had lost patience with al-Afdal's incompetence and allied himself with al-Aziz. Al-Adil then annexed Damascus, allowing al-Afdal to retire to the town of Salkhad, in the Hauran. In November 1198 al-Aziz died from the effects of falling from a horse while hunting. Fearing the ambition of al-Adil, the emirs of Egypt called al-Afdal from retirement to be regent of Egypt for al-Aziz's young son. In 1200 he allied with his brother az-Zahir, who was also al-Adil's enemy, and they besieged their uncle in Damascus on two occasions. Al-Adil, skilfully played his nephews off against each other, and suborned the vassals of both from their allegiance. Az-Zahir admitted his uncle's suzerainty and al-Afdal was promised the cities of Samosata and Mayyafaraqin. By the end of 1201 al-Adil had exerted his authority over all the Ayyubid dominions and adopted the title 'sultan'. There is no indication that al-Afdal, reduced to political impotence, ever received the cities he was promised; there are no records of his death, but it is supposed that he died in exile in 1225.^[2]

References

Bibliography

• Husain, Shahnaz (1998). Muslim heroes of the Crusades. ISBN 1-897940-71-8. 
• Runciman, S. (reprinted 1987) A History of the Crusades: Volume III, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades, Cambridge University Press Archive.