page_title: Caliphate
section_title: Ayyubid Caliphate (1171–1260)
hierarchical_section_title: Caliphate / History / Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171) / Ayyubid Caliphate (1171–1260)
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Ayyubid sultanate at the death of Saladin, 1193 AD, showing its political subdivisions and cities. Borders are approximate only, especially in the Yemen and western Arabia. The primary resource used is the Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition; see the articles regarding the various places, dynasties and individuals featured in the map. The articles on Diyar Mudar, Turanshah b. Ayyub, Tarim, 'Asir, Djayzan, Tihama, and Katada b. Idris were also reference. The other major source used is Ibn al-Athir, volumes 2 and 3, passim. Full reference list is given below. Works Cited: Baadj, Amar S. Saladin, the Almohads and the Banū Ghāniya: The Contest for North Africa (12th and 13th Centuries). Leiden and Boston: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2015. ISBN 9789004296206 Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. The New Islamic Dynasties. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. ISBN 0231107145 Ehrenkreutz. Andrew S. Saladin. First Edition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1972. ISBN 087395095X. p. 168 The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Ed. 12 vols. with supplement and indices. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960-2005. "Europe in the Year 1200." Euratlas. Accessed 22 March 2015. Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193-1260. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977. ISBN 0873952634 Ibn al-Athir, 'Izz al-Din. The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 2. Trans. D.S. Richards. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. ISBN 9780754640783 Ibn al-Athir, 'Izz al-Din. The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 3. Trans. D.S. Richards. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2008. ISBN 9780754640790 Major, Balazs. "Al-Malik al-Mujahid, Ruler of Homs, and the Hospitallers." The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity. Ed. Zsolt Hunyadi and Jozsef Laszlovszky. Budapest: Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, 2001. ISBN 9639241423. p. 62 McEvedy, Colin. The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. London: Penguin Books, 1992. ISBN 9780140512496. pp. 70-71 Nicolle, David. Saladin. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9781849083171. pp. 14, 24 Sato, Tsugitaka. Sugar in the Social Life of Medieval Islam. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2015. ISBN 9789004277526. p. 61
context_page_description: A caliphate is an Islamic state under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph, a person considered a politico-religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the entire Muslim Community. Historically, the caliphates were polities based on Islam which developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires. During the medieval period, three major caliphates succeeded each other: the Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate. In the fourth major caliphate, the Ottoman Caliphate, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire claimed caliphal authority from 1517. Throughout the history of Islam, a few other Muslim states, almost all hereditary monarchies, such as the Mamluk Sultanate and Ayyubid Caliphate have claimed to be caliphates.
  Prior to the rise of Muhammad, Arab tribes followed a pre-Islamic Arab polytheism and lived as self-governing sedentary and nomadic tribal communities. Following the early Muslim conquests by Muhammad, the region became politically unified under Islam.
  The first caliphate, the Rashidun Caliphate, immediately succeeded Muhammad after his death in 632.
context_section_description: The Ayyubid Empire overtook the Fatimids by incorporating the empire into the Abbasid Caliphate. However, Saladin himself has been a widely celebrated Caliph in Islamic history.
caption: Ayyubid Sultanate (in pink) at the death of Saladin in 1193
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