Saladin continues to fascinate. We know simultaneously so much and so little about the most famous Muslim who lived during the crusading period. On the one hand, we have a great deal of information about him in both contemporary and later sources, including biographical works by authors who knew him intimately. On the other hand, the sources that we have are mostly so heavily mediated through the perspectives and agendas of their writers that they make it immensely difficult to discern fact from fiction, and the person from the panegyric (or polemic).
This is the third book review that I have written about a modern biography of Saladin. The first book, Saladin, by Anne-Marie Eddé, was outstanding. The second, Saladin: The Sultan who Vanquished the Crusaders and Built an Islamic Empire, by John Man, was abysmal. Phillip's work, which is both a biography and an exploration of the sultan's posthumous impact in both east and west, is a comprehensively-researched, engagingly-written and thoughtful discussion of its subject, and is therefore excellent.
The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin is divided into two parts. The first, which occupies roughly three-quarters of the book, is an account of the life of Saladin, based on both the primary sources and secondary works. As Phillips himself notes in a discussion of his sources at the end of the book (396), as a non-Arabist he has had to rely on translations of the Arabic primary sources, but has also been able to take advantage of the fact that the most important of these are now available in scholarly (mostly English) translations. This has enabled him to assemble a detailed and balanced biography of Saladin that takes in opinions from multiple religious and cultural perspectives. Phillips is also a talented storyteller with a good eye for an interesting historical anecdote, which enlivens his narrative.
As I read this account, I was particularly impressed by two things. First, rather than simply providing a recitation of events, at a number of points Phillips also aims to analyse the impact of Saladin's cultural, political, and religious environment and experiences upon the latter. For example, he muses that when the young Saladin joined the retinue of Nur al-Din (d. 1174), "Such a position gave him the vantage point to absorb the gathering impetus of the jihad, to witness the dispensation of patronage and justice, and to watch the calculation and complexities of high-level diplomacy. Nur al-Din was a great ruler, and for the observant young Kurd, he offered a lot to admire" (45). Likewise, he notes that it was likely physical illness and emotional exhaustion that led to Saladin occasionally behaving in uncharacteristic (for him) ways towards the end of the Third Crusade (293-294). Thus Phillips attempts to reach beyond the images presented to us by the sources to explore the human being hidden behind them. At the same time, he is also careful to avoid engaging in wild or romantic conjectures about the personality and motivations of the sultan, keeping his speculations within reasonable bounds.
I was also impressed by Phillips' emphasis on the complexity of the historical situations that he describes. When discussing the crusades it can be very tempting to retreat into binaries (Muslims vs. crusaders, Sunnis vs. Shi'ites, etc.). This of course risks setting up over-simplified preconceptions that can impede effective historical analysis. Phillips is always careful to avoid this, and to note for his reader the far more complicated situations that existed at the time. Thus he notes, for example, that even as Saladin was trying to raise the siege of Acre in 1189-1190, he was also having to juggle relations with the Almohads in North Africa, the Zangids of northern Syria and Iraq, and the recalcitrant 'Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, as well as with members of his own family (230-235). By the same token, he navigates the reader skilfully through the internal tensions among the various Frankish and Muslim factions involved in the negotiations that took place during the course of the Third Crusade (267-277). In doing so Phillips ensures that we do not disregard the immense diversity of political, ethnic, religious, and cultural interests that affected the events and relationships of the time.
The second part of Phillips' work shifts the focus to Saladin's legacy, in the process seeking to answer the major question of how the sultan became such an attractive figure for both Western and Middle Eastern audiences (313-314). Our author leads us first in one chapter through the evolution of his image in western sources, noting that Saladin quickly became transformed in medieval accounts from a figure targeted for vitriol to a model of chivalrous conduct, and that the latter image then persisted in the centuries that followed. The subsequent four chapters then trace the sultan's image in Middle Eastern sources, demonstrating that (contrary to what was generally assumed until recent years) the memory of Saladin as a model to be emulated persisted through the centuries that followed his death. It was then evoked with particular enthusiasm as part of Middle Eastern responses to Western colonialism, including in the activities of Arab Nationalist movements and politicians. Phillips closes this section of his narrative in about 2001, with discussions of the use of Saladin's image by leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Hafez al-Assad, and organisations such as Hamas and al-Qaeda.
In his conclusion, Phillips highlights not only the remarkable achievements and qualities of Saladin, but also the characteristics, "faith, generosity, mercy and justice" (387), that gave (and continue to give) him an appeal crossing boundaries of religion, politics or culture. As the author notes, the memory of Saladin is one that has been drawn on in a vast range of ways to answer the needs of those doing so, even if the result bears "little or no resemblance to the historical record" (388). Saladin has become a powerful symbol, adopted and adapted by various groups and individuals to suit their own agendas. Although this goes beyond the bounds of Phillips' work, it is worth noting that this process has continued in more recent years: In his 2011 biography Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, described Osama bin Laden as a modern-day Saladin; meanwhile, a number of the units involved in the current civil war in Syria named themselves after the sultan. It is reasonable to assume that in each of these cases the image of Saladin that has been conceived is not the same; he remains endlessly mutable.
I have only some very minor quibbles with this book. There are a few minor mistakes of fact and a couple of instances where points would benefit from clearer exposition, and while I appreciated the two illustration sections, according to the image credits at the end the first of these was meant to be in colour rather than black and white. But these should not be seen as detracting significantly from the overall quality of the book.
Phillips has produced an exceptional piece of work, an account of Saladin's life and afterlife that is meticulously researched (as witnessed to by not only the evident erudition of the narrative, but also the detailed end-notes and bibliography), but also presented in a manner that is thought-provoking, entertaining, informative, and adeptly guides the reader through the complex relationships and situations of the medieval Levant. I highly recommend it for students and scholars of the crusading period and/or the Muslim world, as well as for non-academics who are interested to learn more about this enigmatic counter-crusader.