<Tr> <Th> Father </Th> <Td> Najm ad - Dīn Ayyūb </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Religion </Th> <Td> Sunni Islam (Shafi'i) </Td> </Tr> <P> An - Nasir Salah ad - Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Arabic: صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب ‎ / ALA - LC: Ṣalāḥ ad - Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb; Kurdish: سەلاحەدینی ئەییووبی ‎ / ALA - LC: Selahedînê Eyûbî), known as Salah ad - Din or Saladin (/ ˈsælədɪn /; 1137--4 March 1193), was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty . A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ethnicity, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant . At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa . </P> <P> Originally sent to Fatimid Egypt in 1164 accompanying his uncle Shirkuh, a general of the Zengid army, on orders of their lord Nur ad - Din, an atabeg of the Seljuks, to consolidate Shawar amid his ongoing power struggle for vizier to the teenage Fatimid caliph al - Adid . With Shawar reinstated as vizier, he engaged in a power struggle with Shirkuh, which saw the former realigning himself with Crusader king Amalric . Saladin climbed the ranks of the Fatimid government by virtue of his military successes against Crusader assaults against its territory and his personal closeness to al - Adid . With Shawar assassinated in 1169 and Shirkuh's natural death later that year, al - Adid appointed Saladin vizier, a rare nomination of a Sunni Muslim to such an important position in the Isma'ili Shia caliphate . During his tenure as vizier, Saladin began to undermine the Fatimid establishment and, following al - Adid's death in 1171, he abolished the Fatimid Caliphate and realigned the country's allegiance with the Sunni, Baghdad - based Abbasid Caliphate . </P>

Who was the leader of the muslim during the crusades