Introduction

‘Imād al-Dīn's memoirs of his life with Saladin are titled The Syrian Thunderbolt (al-Barq al-shāmī), which refers to the brief but glorious reigns of Nūr al-Dīn and Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn [ = Saladin] that saw the unification of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt into a single kingdom and the recapture of Jerusalem from the hands of the Crusaders who had held it for eighty-eight years (1099–1187). After Saladin's death, the kingdom was divided among his three sons and one of his brothers, who soon began to vie with one another for control of the region, leading rapidly to a period of political instability.

Although ‘Imād al-Dīn's work is framed as a life of Saladin, the narrative focus slips away again and again to highlight the role of ‘Imad al-Dīn himself, so much so that later Arab autobiographers such as al-Suyūṭī and al-Sha‘rānī regarded the work as autobiographical, one in which the author had “portrayed himself” (tarjama nafsah). Reading ‘Imād al-Dīn's work, one might well wonder whether a single work can portray two lives and therefore function simultaneously as both biography and autobiography. The text could in any case easily be titled “My Life with Saladin.” We view Saladin's reign and his deeds through the eyes and opinions of his faithful, though none too modest, personal secretary and assistant, ‘Imād al-Dīn. One of the constant motifs within the narrative is the contrast between “the pen” and “the sword” and the interdependence of the men who wield them. This is a relationship that is depicted as being complementary and necessary to both groups.

‘Imād al-Dīn gives us a wonderfully detailed account of the day-to-day activities of a high-ranking administrative secretary: drafting reports, writing elaborately euphuistic proclamations, composing verses to be used as embellishments in the ruler's personal correspondence, buying books, attending public readings of poetry and lectures on religious topics, and even helping the ruler to organize public disputations over religious law in celebration of the holy month of Ramadan. The following selected passages demonstrate two of the author's favorite themes: his personal role during the reign of Saladin and his own social commentaries regarding the “men of the pen” and the “men of the sword.” The final passage translated here constitutes one of ‘Imād al-Dīn's true moments of personal glory, when he is selected by Saladin to draft the official proclamations sent out to all the cities of the realm announcing the reconquest of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Only two volumes of ‘Imād al-Dīn's original work have survived, but an abridgment by al-Bundarī, Sanā al-barq al-shāmī, gives a sense of the whole. The following passages are translated from al-Bundarī (as marked).