Salah Al-Din Al-Ayobi's Citadel at Cairo ,Egypt

The Citadel of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, or the Citadel of the Mountain, as it was called, is one of the most famous landmarks in Islamic Cairo. The castle is located in a strategic location on the Mokattam mountain, where the castle has a very splendid and beautiful appearance and is admired by everyone who visits it from all over the world.

Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi began to strengthen his position in Egypt after the overthrow of the Fatimid state, and assigns independence, liberator, liberator, liberator, the establishment, and release of the origins of the doctrine to its supporters, and the foundations of the origins of the Sunni doctrine in Egypt.

The reason for building the castle:

The Citadel of Cairo or the Citadel of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi is located on one of the heights of Mount Mokattam . The citadel is also the huge project that Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi was planning to build in Cairo. Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi assigned Baha al-Din Qaraqosh the responsibility of supervising the construction of the citadel.

Who is Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi?

Salah Al-Din al-Ayyubi was called "Al-Malik al-Nasir". He is from a Kurdish family from the village of Azerbaijan, and his father, Najm Al-Din Ayoub, who was in the assistance of Emad Al-Din Thinki in the struggle against the neighboring Atabekiyat and Asad Al-Din Shirkuh (Uncle of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi) was the commander of the armies of Nur Al-Din Mahmud. Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi was born in Mesopotamia (Iraq) in the year 532 AH / 1138 AD and his name was Yusuf ibn Ayyub.

Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi led many military campaigns to eliminate the greed of the Crusaders from Jerusalem ,And he was tolerant in dealing with them, and where he was called "the Merciful King" because of many situations, he became famous until they called him that.

Salah Al-Din al-Ayyubi and his uncle(Asad al-Din Shirkuh):

Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi was influenced by the courage of his uncle ( Asad Al-Din Shirkuh), and learned from him to fight battles and lead men, and when Nour Al-Din Mahmud decided to capture Egypt, to strengthen its resources in a future war against the Crusaders, he chose Asad al-Din Shirkuh for this task.

Salah al-Din accompanied his uncle(Asad Al-Din Shirkuh) in campaigns against the Fatimids in Egypt during the years 1164 AD, 1167 AD and 1168 AD, and the matter of these campaigns ended with Asad Al-Din Shirkuh assuming the position of the Ministry during the reign of the Fatimid Caliph "Al-Adid". When Shirkuh died, Salah Al-Din succeeded him in the position of minister in 564 AH / 1169 AD, when he was thirty-one years old, He ruled Egypt.

Palaces of the castle :

The Citadel of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi includes four palaces:

Al-Gawhara Palace (Built in 1826) During Mohamed Ali Pasha
Al-Haram Palace During Mohamed Ali Pasha
Al-Ablaq Palace
The Palace of Saraya al-Adll

The mosques of castle:

Al-Nasir Mohamed Mosque (called:Mamluk Mosque of the Citadel) was built in 1318A.D in the early Mamluk Bahri era.
Suleiman Pasha Mosque built in 1528.
Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha.

Castle towers:

The castle wall contains 13 towers to permanently protect the soldiers and residents of the castle, the most famous of them are:

Al-Muqattam
Al-Safa
Al-Alwa
Karkilan
Al-Tarfa
Al-Matar
Al-Mablat
Al-Muqasser
Al-Ramla
Al-Haddad
Al-Sahara

The death of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi:

After Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi concluded the "peace of Ramla" (Treaty of Jaffa) and the return of Richard (the king of England), Salah al-Din got biliary fever in Safar 589 AH , and the disease began to increase, until he died on Wednesday 27 Safar 589 AH - March 4, 1193 AD. His death was afflicted for Muslims , and he was buried after the Asr prayer of that day in the Aziziyah School near the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

TG Mohamed Ibrahim