Part 101

He — meaning Salah ad-Deen — knows that we did not spend gold in Egypt when we were in need of gold, but he knows that the border of Syria needs to be supplied with wealth, men and help, to uproot the disbelievers from Syria. In other words, he only wanted the wealth and men in order to uproot the disbelievers from the coastal regions.745 As for Salah ad-Deen, he agreed with Noor ad-Deen with regard to strategic goals, but he was afraid of turmoil in Egypt; his main concern was to put things in order in Egypt first and to focus on that, hence he had no choice but to return. It seems that Noor ad-Deen thought of entering Egypt with his army and catching the Crusaders in a pincer movement from that direction, under his command, but Salah ad-Deen realized what Noor ad-Deen's intentions were, so he summoned his family in Egypt, including his father Najm ad-Deen and his maternal uncle Shihab ad-Deen al-Harimi746, as well as some of the army commanders, and consulted them with regard to what he had heard about Noor ad-Deen's intention to head towards Egypt and dismiss him from his post there. One of his nephews, whose name was 'Umar, suggested that he should make preparations to fight Noor ad-Deen if he came to Egypt, and some of the people present agreed with him. But Najm ad-Deen the father of Salah ad-Deen hastened to rebuke them and denounce their opinion. He said to Salah ad-Deen: I am your father and this is your paternal uncle Shihab ad-Deen; we love you more than everyone whom you see. By Allah, if your uncle and I saw Noor ad-Deen, we could do no more than kiss the ground before him, and if he ordered us to behead you with the sword, we would do it. If this is our attitude, then how about others? All of these commanders whom you see, if they saw Noor ad-Deen on his own they would not be able to remain seated firmly in their saddles. This land is his, and we are his Mamelukes and deputies here. If he wanted to dismiss you, we would hear and obey. We think that you should send a letter with a messenger, and say, 'I have heard that you want to come to the country (Egypt); what need is there for that? His highness could send any messenger to put a rope around my neck and take me to you, and there is no one here who would disobey you.'747 And he said to all of them, "Leave us, for we are the Mamelukes and slaves of Noor ad-Deen and he does with us what he wants." So they dispersed, and most of them wrote to Noor ad-Deen informing him of what had happened.748 When Najm ad-Deen was alone with his son Salah ad-Deen, he said to him: You are ignorant and have little knowledge. You gathered together this horde and told them what you were thinking about. If Noor ad-Deen hears that you were determined to stop him from coming here, he would make you his primary concern and the first one he would tackle. If he headed towards you, you would not find anyone with you from this army; they would have surrendered you to him. But now, after this gathering, they will write to him and tell him what I said. You must also write to him and send him a letter conveying the same meaning. Say, 'Why do you need to come to me?