Nūr ed-Dīn Zankī

 

Damascus was conquered by the Atabeg Nūr ed-Dīn Zankī (1118-1174) in the year 1154 CE. This illustrious ruler was credited with many achievements by his contemporary Damascene historian Ibn ʿAsākir (1105-1176), who extolled his master's piety, chastity, benevolence, learning, disinterestedness, frugality, and protection of the poor and orphans, not to mention his military exploits in the Jihad against the infidel Crusaders.

Nūr ed-Dīn is also credited with promoting the cause of Sunni Islam and its four schools of jurisprudence, namely, enforcing orthodoxy as opposed to innovation and Šīʿā practices. He also forced the Ḏimmīs—Christians and Jews—to don certain signs so as to differentiate them from the Community of the Faithful.

Islamdom had lived through what appeared to many observers as a Šīʿā Age starting in the 10th century CE. In Mesopotamia and Iran, the Buwayhīd reigned supreme; in Aleppo, the Ḥamdānid; and in North Africa all the way to Egypt and beyond, the Ismāʿīlī Fāṭimid, who would eventually spawn the Drūze. The zenith of Šīʿā power and prestige was perhaps reached in Fāṭimid Cairo, which dominated North Africa and extended all the way to Syria.

The Sunni resurgence began in the mid-11th century with the Selǧūq Turks, who under the leadership of Alp Arslān routed the Byzantines in the Battle of Manzikert and wrested the majority of Asia Minor from their hands. The conquerors restored the nominal supremacy of the Abbasid Caliph and, with it, that of Orthodox (that is, Sunni) Islam.The Byzantines reacted by appealing to the Crusaders for help, a remedy that would prove disastrous in the long run.

The process accelerated under the Atabegs and subsequently their Ayyūbid clients. The credit of annihilating the Fāṭimid Caliphate goes to two lieutenants of Nūr ed-Dīn: Asad ed-Dīn Šīrkō and his nephew Saladin. The IIsmāʿīlī dominance in Egypt came to an end, and al-ʾAzhar—the oldest Islamic university—would henceforth be a stronghold of Sunni teaching and learning.

Photo Credit: K.A.C Creswell.