The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin
or
al-Nawadir al-Sultaniyya wa ‘l-Mahasin al-Yusufiyya
by
Baha’ al-Din Ibn Shaddad

In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate

Praise be to God, who bestowed Islam upon us and guided us to the Faith, which continues in the fairest path, and who granted us the intercession of our Prophet, Muhammad (upon whom be the best of blessing and peace), and who made the lives of the early generations a model for those of understanding and who made the vicissitudes of life condemn every contingent state to pass away, in order that a fortunate man might not be misled and that one whose life the blows of sickness have trifled with might not despair.

I testify that there is no god but God alone, who has no partner, a testimony which quenches hearts’ burning thirst.

I testify that our Lord Muhammad is His servant and prophet, who opened doors to true guidance.

Those who seek to open them must persevere with keys of obedience and submission.

God bless him and his family with eternal blessings that last as long as time itself.

When I observed the days of our Lord the Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir, the uniter of Islam, the suppressor of the worshippers of the cross, the standard bearer of justice and fairness, Salah al-Dunya wa’l-Dln, sultan of Islam and the Muslims, deliverer of Jerusalem from the hands of the polytheists, the servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries, Abu’LMuzaffar Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadl (may God moisten his resting-place with the dew of His good pleasure and let him taste at the seat of His mercy the sweet reward of faith), I came to believe the tales of early generations that improbability called false.

I bore witness to the genuineness of the rare stories told of noble heroes, while the deeds of the brave mamlukes of his days confirmed the tales of [past] champions that doubts impugned.

I saw with my own eyes such endurance of hardships for the sake of God as strengthened my belief in such tales.

The wonders of these days were too great to be grasped by any mind or comprehended by any heart, their extraordinary facts too glorious to be fully expressed by any tongue or recorded on a page by any hand.

However, they were of such a kind that, once aware of them, one is unable to keep them hidden and anyone with knowledge of them cannot but relate their tales and stories.