ges filled with
the achievements of Saladin than even the History of the Crusades.
Everyone has read of the battle of Hattin;[14] but of the healing of
the great schism and the restoration of Egypt to orthodoxy--a step
thought to be impossible and of the highest importance to Islam--very
few know anything. Let us endeavor to present the history of this
great man with some attempt to show the true proportions of his
achievements in the eyes of the East, if not the West.

[Footnote 14: In the battle of Tiberias, or Hattin, Saladin
completely overthrew the Christians and conquered their
kingdom.]

Yussuf ibn Ayub--Joseph the son of Job--was by descent a Kurd. His
father was a retainer or follower of the celebrated Nur-ed-Din (Light
of Religion), Sultan of Syria, the prince who, after many years of
humiliation, recovered some of the lost prestige of the Mohammedan
name, wrested many of their outlying strongholds from the Christians,
and prepared the way for his more illustrious successor.

[Illustration: Saladin and Christians. [TN]]

The caliphate was then divided into the Fatimite line, which reigned
at Cairo, and the Abbaside, which reigned at Baghdad. Both branches
had by this time fallen into a mere semblance of authority. The
bitterness of theological differences survived, and though for the
re-establishment of Moslem power, it was absolutely necessary that the
schism should cease, there seemed no likelihood whatever of any
change. The weaker of the two, since the rise of Nur-ed-Din, was
undoubtedly the Egyptian house. The last of the Fatimite caliphs were
mere tools in the hands of rival ministers, and passed their ignoble
lives--_Rois Faineants_--in their luxurious palaces. Syria, which had
been theirs, was lost to them, and occupied partly by Mohammedans of
the rival sect, and partly by the Christians. Their final fall,
however, was caused by internal dissensions and the quarrels of two
candidates for the post of Grand Vizier. Their names were Shawer and
Dargham. The former, unable to contend against his rival, applied for
assistance to Nur-ed-Din, offering for reward a third of the Egyptian
revenues. The expedition which was sent in reply was the first chance
of distinction which young Yussuf had obtained. The army, commanded by
his uncle Shirkoh, easily defeated Dargham and reinstated Shawer. Then
followed the reluctance to keep the terms of the agreement which is so
common in hist