Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad

Baha ad-Din Yusuf ibn Rafi ibn Schaddad , also called Bohadin ( Arabic بهاء الدين بن شداد, DMG Bahāʾ ad-Dīn b. Šaddād ; Baha ad-Din means something like "splendor of faith", * March 7th 1145 in Mosul ; † November 8, 1234 in Aleppo ), was an eminent Muslim jurist, scholar, and crusade historian. His best known work is a biography of Saladin , which he knew well.

Life

Baha ad-Din was born on Ramadan 10, 539 (March 7, 1145) in Mosul. In his youth he studied the Koran , the hadith and Islamic law. Later he attended the Nizamiyya - madrasa in Baghdad , where he soon the rank of mu'id reached (assistant teacher). Around 1173 he returned to Mosul as a mudarris (professor). He undertook the Hajj and returned to his hometown in 1188. Saladin immediately called him to Cairo, he had read his works and was deeply impressed. He entered the service of the sultan, who appointed him qadi al-'askar (army judge). He became an eyewitness to the siege of Acon and the battle of Arsuf and created a “living chronicle of the Third Crusade”. Saladin and Baha ad-Din soon became close friends, and the Sultan elevated him to many high administrative and legal offices. In addition, Baha ad-Din was one of the sultan's most important advisors until his death in 1193. He was then appointed Grand Qadi of Aleppo, where he died on November 8, 1234 at the age of 89.

Works

Baha ad-Din's most important work is his biography of Saladin, which is largely based on personal observations and contains a complete portrait of Saladin as the Arabs saw him. Published in English as The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin , the Arabic title ( al-Nawādir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Maḥāsin al-Yūsufiyya ) roughly means "The Sultanic Anecdotes and Joseph's Virtues". The text has been preserved in its entirety and is still being printed today. Baha ad-Din also wrote several writings on the application of Islamic law, The Judges' Flight from the Ambiguity of the Judgment , The Evidence of Judgments, and The Epitome as well as a monograph called The Virtue of Jihad . Much of what we know about Baha ad-Din comes from Ibn Challikan's contemporary biographical lexicon, Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-Anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān ("The Death of Great Persons and the News of the Sons of Time").

Baha ad-din lived at the time of which he wrote, which makes his chronicles particularly valuable. His style is particularly characterized by great detail, objectivity and credibility. “The Life of Saladin” was published in 1732 by Schultens in Leiden . It is still one of the most important sources on Richard the Lionheart's crusade (1189–1192).

Individual evidence

↑ J. Nichols (Ed.): The General Biographic Dictionary . London 1812, p. 519 .
^ Harvard University: The Life of Saladin . Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1897 ( archive.org [accessed March 6, 2018]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Donald Sidney Richards: The rare and excellent history of Saladin, or, al-Nawādir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Mahasin al-Yusufiyya . Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants, England 2001, ISBN 978-0-7546-3381-5 .
^ ^A ^b David Edward Pritchett Jackson: Saladin: the politics of the holy war . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, ISBN 978-0-521-31739-9 .
↑ ^a ^b Francesco Gabrieli and Barbara Kaltenborn-Stachau: The Crusades from an Arab perspective . Bechtermünz-Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0371-1 .

personal data
SURNAME	Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	بهاء الدين بن شداد (Arabic); Bohadin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Arab lawyer, scholar and crusade historian
DATE OF BIRTH	March 7, 1145
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mosul
DATE OF DEATH	November 8, 1234
Place of death	Aleppo

[1] J. Nichols (Ed.): The General Biographic Dictionary . London 1812, p. 519 .

[2] Harvard University: The Life of Saladin . Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1897 ( archive.org [accessed March 6, 2018]).

[:0-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Donald Sidney Richards: The rare and excellent history of Saladin, or, al-Nawādir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Mahasin al-Yusufiyya . Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants, England 2001, ISBN 978-0-7546-3381-5 .

[:1-4] A ^b David Edward Pritchett Jackson: Saladin: the politics of the holy war . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, ISBN 978-0-521-31739-9 .

[:2-5] Francesco Gabrieli and Barbara Kaltenborn-Stachau: The Crusades from an Arab perspective . Bechtermünz-Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0371-1 .