My brother sometimes acts like pensive eccentric, but he is still my brother. ^_^;;
and Saladin
My favorite general is Saladin. Beloved by both Europe and the Middle East, Saladin was a man of honor and chivalry. Umm… concerning military strategy Saladin did win the Battle of Hattintake and was able to acquire Jerusalem against none other than King Richard the Lion Hearted. Saladin was known for his gentlemanly kindness to prisoners and enemies, and he even took care of King Richard when he was sick. Awww… o_o; Saladin is just like my favorite general of the skies, Adolf “Gallant” Galland. :oops:
Here’s what my web sitey had to say on the gentleman Saladin was:
"Most sources say that he was small, with a short, neat beard and somewhat frail. He was a excellent listener. His normally expressionless face would light-up when spoken to. This made the speaker feel comfortable and could speak very easily. You can see how vital this characteristic would be if you had to negotiate with the Crusaders who really didn’t want to negotiate in the first place. It was also seemingly a miracle that Saladin would negotiate with “infidels” (as the Muslims called them) in the first place
Another characteristic that was considered shocking was how compassionate he was. He cried in front of his own advisors when he heard of his nephews death! This may not seem like so much today, but back then a Sultan never cried in front of anyone. Including himself.
The next ‘shocking’ thing about Saladin was about how modest he was. He even took orders from his own servants. Here is an example: One night, after a large battle, Saladin was extremely tired and was lying on his bed to rest. His servant ran into his tent and shook him awake and told him to sign a paper. Saladin told him to go away because he was tired. The servant ignored him and shoved the paper in his face. Saladin said angrily, ‘I cannot sign the paper. I have a pen but no inkwell. How will I sign it then!’
The servant replied, ‘It is right behind you.’
Saladin smacked himself on the head, ‘So it is!’ Then he reached around a grabbed the inkwell.
What the servant did was considered completely disrespectful and they usually were beaten for their ignorance, sometimes even killed! Saladin actually listened to the servant and fetched the inkwell himself. You can see for yourself what made Saladin such a good leader."
It’s just so sad that even though Saladin was Kurdish, and single-handedly saved the Muslims from further bloodshed by European hands, Kurd aren’t looked highly upon in the Middle East today. :cry:
