Saladin Yusuf Ibn Ayyub - meaning Righteousness of Faith, Joseph, Son of Job (1137 -1193), founded the ethnically Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt and Syria. He was also renowned for his prowess as a military leader during the Crusades and for his honorable mercy towards the Crusaders. He was born in Tikrit on the River Tigris in modern day Iraq, into a Kurdish family but he spent most of his early years in Damascus and Baalbek (Lebanon). After an initial military education, Saladin defended Egypt against the Crusaders and abolished the Fatimid caliphate in 1171. With his brothers, Saladin essentially turned Egypt into a vassal state of his own family, against the wishes of Nur ad-Din who had sent Shirkuh and Saladin to Egypt in the first place. Saladin also restored Sunnism in Egypt On two occasions, in 1171 and 1173, Saladin retreated from an invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Both Nur ad-Din and Saladin were planning a war against each other when Nur ad-Din died in 1174. Saladin then marched on Damascus, and was welcomed into the city. In July of 1187, Saladin invaded the Kingdom of Jerusalem and annihilated the Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin. Saladin captured and executed Raynald and he also captured King Guy. Then, in 1187 on October 2, after 88 years of Crusader rule he recaptured Jerusalem. Soon he had taken back every Crusader city except Tyre. The battle of Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem prompted the Third Crusade. This Crusade took back Acre, and Saladin was defeated by King Richard I of England at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191. Saladin's relationship with Richard was one of mutual respect as well as military rivalry. In 1192, the two came to an agreement over Jerusalem whereby it would remain in Muslim hands but would be open to Christian pilgrims. Not long after Richard's departure, Saladin died in 1193 in Damascus, where his tomb is now a major tourist attraction.