Saladin (c. 1137 – 1193 CE), the Muslim ruler who crushed the mighty Crusader army at the Horns of Hattin (1187 CE) and re-took Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader control, was born in a world where the disunity of the Muslims had allowed foreign invaders to take over their territory. The Islamic front was divided between the Sunni Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad and the Shia Fatimid caliphate of Egypt. Apart from this, the once mighty Seljuk Sultanate (which acted as the supreme authority over the Abbasids), was now fragmented into small states; each ruled by a separate leader. The stage was set for foreign occupation, and by the end of the First Crusade (1095 – 1102 CE), Jerusalem, a holy city for Jews, Christians and Muslims, had fallen into western hands. The local population was brutally massacred and to add injury to insult, the Al Aqsa Mosque was desecrated. Unchallenged by the disunited Muslims, the occupying Europeans, or Franks as they were known, established four Latin kingdoms, collectively referred to as the Crusader States: the County of Edessa, County of Tripoli, Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1384/saladin--the-unification-of-the-muslim-front-1169/.