Ayyubid dynasty

[[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]] was the mother tongue of the Ayyubids,{{sfn|Humphreys|1987|p=164–167}} at the time of their departure from Dvin. Sultan Saladin spoke both Arabic and [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], and likely [[Turkish language|Turkish]] as well.<ref name="Magill809"/><ref name="France84"/> There was a strong ethnic consciousness between the Ayyubids and other Kurds. According to the historian [[R. Stephen Humphreys]], Saladin obtained the Fatimid vizierate partly on the strength of it.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=|pp=29–30}} Kurdish ethnic consciousness was reinforced by the existence of ethnic friction. After Shirkuh's death, Saladin's close associate Diya' al-Din Isa al-Hakkari, a Kurd, visited the leaders of each faction contending for power to try to win them over to the election of Saladin, and to one Kurdish emir, Qutb al-Din Khusrau ibn al-Talal, he used the following argument: "Verily, everybody is for Saladin except you and al-Yaruqi [a Turkmen amir from the north Syrian Yürük tribe]. What is needed now, above all, is an understanding between you and Saladin, especially because of his Kurdish origin, so that the command does not go from him to the Turks." Within a few months of Saladin's election, all the Turkish amirs had returned to Syria save those in the late Shirkuh's Asadiyya corps.<ref>{{cite book |last1=ibn Shaddad |first1=Baha ad-Din |title=The Life of Saladin |year=2014 |publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund |location=Minnesota |isbn=978-1-4021-9246-3 |page=420 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baha-al-Din |access-date=8 December 2020 |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512151617/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baha-al-Din |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]] was the mother tongue of the Ayyubids,{{sfn|Humphreys|1987|p=164–167}} at the time of their departure from Dvin. Sultan Saladin spoke both Arabic and [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], and likely [[Turkish language|Turkish]] as well.<ref name="Magill809"/><ref name="France84"/> There was a strong ethnic consciousness between the Ayyubids and other Kurds. According to the historian [[R. Stephen Humphreys]], Saladin obtained the Fatimid vizierate partly on the strength of it.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=|pp=29–30}} Kurdish ethnic consciousness was reinforced by the existence of ethnic friction. After Shirkuh's death, Saladin's close associate Diya' al-Din Isa al-Hakkari, a Kurd, visited the leaders of each faction contending for power to try to win them over to the election of Saladin, and to one Kurdish emir, Qutb al-Din Khusrau ibn al-Talal, he used the following argument: "Verily, everybody is for Saladin except you and al-Yaruqi [a Turkmen amir from the north Syrian Yürük tribe]. What is needed now, above all, is an understanding between you and Saladin, especially because of his Kurdish origin, so that the command does not go from him to the Turks." Within a few months of Saladin's election, all the Turkish amirs had returned to Syria save those in the late Shirkuh's Asadiyya corps.<ref>{{cite book |last1=ibn Shaddad |first1=Baha ad-Din |title=The Life of Saladin |year=2014 |publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund |location=Minnesota |isbn=978-1-4021-9246-3 |page=420 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baha-al-Din |access-date=8 December 2020 |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512151617/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baha-al-Din |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Ayyubid period represents the climax of Kurdish integration in Egypt and Syria, to the extent that the Ayyubid dynasty appeared as Kurdish dynasty par excellence. the Ayyubids acted as a Kurdish dynasty, functioning as a tribal catalyst. Kurds from various tribes and social status occupied high positions within the Ayyubid realm, from military to religious elites. The Ayyubids reinforced the nexus between the Sultanate and their Kurdish kinsmen, while the Kurds maintained their tribal ethos, solidarities and link to their original homeland.{{sfn|Öpengin|2021|p=30-31}}

The Ayyubid period represents the climax of Kurdish integration in Egypt and Syria, to the extent that the Ayyubid dynasty appeared as Kurdish dynasty par excellence. the Ayyubids acted as a Kurdish dynasty, functioning as a tribal catalyst. Kurds from various tribes and social status occupied high positions within the Ayyubid realm, from military to religious elites. The Ayyubids reinforced the nexus between the Sultanate and their Kurdish kinsmen, while the Kurds maintained their tribal ethos, solidarities and link to their original homeland.{{sfn|Öpengin|2021|p=30-31}} While the Ayyubid military was very ethnically diverse, elite units were dominated by Kurds, and Saladin's personal guard was generally reserved for Kurds.<ref>Andrew S. Ehrenkreutz, Saladin (State University of New York Press, 1972), pp. 44–45</ref><ref>Stephen Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193–1260 (SUNY Press, 1977), p. 23</ref><ref>Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (Edinburgh University Press, 1999), pp. 116–117</ref>

According to Yasser Tabbaa, an anthropologist specializing in medieval Islamic culture, the Ayyubid rulers who reigned in the late 12th-century were far removed from their Kurdish origins, and unlike their Seljuq predecessors and their Mamluk successors, they were firmly "Arabized."<ref name="Tabbaa31"/> [[Arabic culture]] and language<ref name="Angold391">{{harvnb|Angold|2006|p=391}}</ref> formed the main component of their identity instead of their Kurdish heritage.<ref name="FageOliver37-38">{{harvnb|Fage|Oliver|1977|pp=37–38}}</ref> Arabic surnames were much more prevalent among the Ayyubids, a tribe that had already been partially assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world before its members came to power, than non-Arabic names. However, the Ayyubids continued their connection with their original homeland, that is Iranic culture. As it is evident that [[Al-Adil I|Al-Adil]] along with his son and successor, [[Al-Mu'azzam Isa]] spoke [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]] and perhaps even [[New Persian|Persian]].{{sfn|Humphreys|1987|p=164–167}} As Al-Mu'azzam Isa ordered the translation of [[Shahnameh]] into Arabic, the translation was completed in 1224 by the well-known writer Fath ibn Ali al-Bundari.{{sfn|Minorsky|1953|pp=137}} Some Iranic romanticism can be detected in names such as [[Nur ad-Din Shahanshah|Shahan-Shah]], [[Bahramshah|Bahram-Shah]], [[Farrukh Shah|farrukh-Shah]] and ''[[Turan-Shah]].{{sfn|Minorsky|1953|pp=136}} Under the Ayyubids, many scholars note that [[Kurmanji]] gained a privileged status but admit that there is a paucity of evidence due to the lack of written Kurmanji documents from the Ayyubid court.{{sfn|Öpengin|2021|pp=612-613}} the Ayyubid Military class often spoke Kurdish and Turkish rather than Arabic.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillenbrand |first=Carole |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UP-vjDzbB8C |title=The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives |date=1999 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-57958-210-4 |pages=332 |language=en}}</ref> ''Most of the Ayyubid rulers spoke fluent Arabic and a number of them, such as az-Zahir Ghazi, [[al-Mu'azzam Isa]] and the minor emirs of Hama, composed [[Arabic poetry]].<ref name="Humphreys189-190">{{harvnb|Humphreys|1977|pp=189–190}}</ref> [[Al-Salih Ayyub]], however, did not write poetry, but was a patron of two great Arab poets, [[Baha al-Din Zuhayr]] and Ibn Matrouh.<ref name="France122-123" />''

According to Yasser Tabbaa, an anthropologist specializing in medieval Islamic culture, the Ayyubid rulers who reigned in the late 12th-century were far removed from their Kurdish origins, and unlike their Seljuq predecessors and their Mamluk successors, they were firmly "Arabized."<ref name="Tabbaa31"/> [[Arabic culture]] and language<ref name="Angold391">{{harvnb|Angold|2006|p=391}}</ref> formed the main component of their identity instead of their Kurdish heritage.<ref name="FageOliver37-38">{{harvnb|Fage|Oliver|1977|pp=37–38}}</ref> Arabic surnames were much more prevalent among the Ayyubids, a tribe that had already been partially assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world before its members came to power, than non-Arabic names. However, the Ayyubids continued their connection with their original homeland, that is Iranic culture. As it is evident that [[Al-Adil I|Al-Adil]] along with his son and successor, [[Al-Mu'azzam Isa]] spoke [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]] and maybe even [[New Persian|Persian]].{{sfn|Humphreys|1987|p=164–167}} As Al-Mu'azzam Isa ordered the translation of [[Shahnameh]] into Arabic, the translation was completed in 1224 by the well-known writer Fath ibn Ali al-Bundari.{{sfn|Minorsky|1953|pp=137}} Some Iranic romanticism can be detected in names such as [[Nur ad-Din Shahanshah|Shahan-Shah]], [[Bahramshah|Bahram-Shah]], [[Farrukh Shah|farrukh-Shah]] and ''[[Turan-Shah]].{{sfn|Minorsky|1953|pp=136}}'' Under the Ayyubids, many scholars note that [[Kurmanji]] gained a privileged status but admit that there is a paucity of evidence due to the lack of written Kurmanji documents from the Ayyubid court.''{{sfn|Öpengin|2021|pp=612-613}}'' The Ayyubid Military class often spoke Kurdish and Turkish rather than Arabic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillenbrand |first=Carole |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UP-vjDzbB8C |title=The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives |date=1999 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-57958-210-4 |pages=332 |language=en}}</ref> Most of the Ayyubid rulers spoke fluent Arabic and a number of them, such as az-Zahir Ghazi, [[al-Mu'azzam Isa]] and the minor emirs of Hama, composed [[Arabic poetry]].''<ref name="Humphreys189-190">{{harvnb|Humphreys|1977|pp=189–190}}</ref>'' [[Al-Salih Ayyub]], however, did not write poetry, but was a patron of two great Arab poets, [[Baha al-Din Zuhayr]] and Ibn Matrouh.''<ref name="France122-123" />''

Kurds and free born Kurdish mercenaries<ref>Houtsma, M. Th (1993). E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936. Brill. p. 164. {{ISBN|978-90-04-09790-2}}</ref> dominated the cavalry and nomadic [[Turkmen people|Turcomans]] and Arabs filled the ranks of the infantry. These groups typically settled in the pastoral areas outside of the cities, the centers of cultural life, and as such they were relatively isolated from the Arabic-dominant urban environment. This isolation allowed them to preserve their traditions.<ref name="Tabbaa31">{{harvnb|Tabbaa|1997|p=31}}</ref> Like their Fatimid predecessors, the Ayyubid rulers of Egypt maintained a substantial force of ''[[mamluk]]s'' (military slaves). By the first half of the 13th century ''mamluks'' were mostly drawn from [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] Turks and [[Circassians]] and there is strong evidence that these forces continued to speak [[Kipchak language|Kipchak Turkish]].<ref name="Catlos425">{{harvnb|Catlos|1997|p=425}}</ref><ref name="Flinterman16-17">{{harvnb|Flinterman|2012|pp=16–17}}</ref>

Kurds and free-born Kurdish mercenaries<ref>Houtsma, M. Th (1993). E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936. Brill. p. 164. {{ISBN|978-90-04-09790-2}}</ref> dominated the cavalry and nomadic [[Turkmen people|Turcomans]] and Arabs filled the ranks of the infantry. These groups typically settled in the pastoral areas outside of the cities, the centers of cultural life, and as such they were relatively isolated from the Arabic-dominant urban environment. This isolation allowed them to preserve their traditions.<ref name="Tabbaa31">{{harvnb|Tabbaa|1997|p=31}}</ref> Like their Fatimid predecessors, the Ayyubid rulers of Egypt maintained a substantial force of ''[[mamluk]]s'' (military slaves). By the first half of the 13th century ''mamluks'' were mostly drawn from [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] Turks and [[Circassians]] and there is strong evidence that these forces continued to speak [[Kipchak language|Kipchak Turkish]].<ref name="Catlos425">{{harvnb|Catlos|1997|p=425}}</ref><ref name="Flinterman16-17">{{harvnb|Flinterman|2012|pp=16–17}}</ref>

[[File:Coptic Gospel, Damietta, Egypt, 1179-80.jpg|thumb|Miniatures from a [[Copts|Coptic]] Gospel, Damietta, Egypt, Ayyubid period, 1179-80]]

[[File:Coptic Gospel, Damietta, Egypt, 1179-80.jpg|thumb|Miniatures from a [[Copts|Coptic]] Gospel, Damietta, Egypt, Ayyubid period, 1179-80]]