Nur al-Din Zengi

Ruler of Aleppo and then Damascus, he united Muslim Syria, brought Egypt under his authority, and built madrasas, a dar al-hadith and the Nuri hospital.

Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zengi was born in Shawwal 511 AH, the son of ʿImad al-Din Zengi, ruler of Mosul and Aleppo. When his father was killed in 541 AH, Nur al-Din took charge of Aleppo while still in his late twenties. He spent the rest of his life working to unite Syria and to defend the Muslim lands against the Crusader states.

In 549 AH Damascus came under his rule, uniting Muslim Syria for the first time in decades. He later sent his commander Shirkuh, with Shirkuh’s nephew Salah al-Din, to Egypt; by 564 AH Egypt was under his authority. He commissioned a beautifully carved minbar for Masjid al-Aqsa, hoping to place it there himself — Salah al-Din installed it after Jerusalem was retaken.

He was equally known for justice and learning. He held regular sessions to hear complaints against officials (dar al-ʿadl), abolished unjust taxes, and founded many madrasas, a dar al-hadith in Damascus where he himself heard hadith, and the great Nuri hospital (bimaristan) of Damascus, which treated the poor free of charge. Historians describe his simple personal life and long night prayers.

He died in Damascus on 11 Shawwal 569 AH and was buried in his madrasa, al-Nuriyyah. The historian Ibn al-Athir wrote that after the rightly guided caliphs and ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz he knew of no ruler better in conduct or more just.