Editing Saladin (section)

===Fight for Mosul===
[[File:Badr al-Din Lulu frontispiece (guards).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Zengid]] soldiers from [[Mosul]], with swords and the ''[[Qaba|aqbiya turkiyya]]'' coat, ''[[tiraz]]'' armbands, boots and ''[[sharbush]]'' hat. ''[[Kitab al-Aghani]]'', 1218–1219.<ref name="DSR">{{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=D. S. |title=The Aghānī Miniatures and Religious Painting in Islam |journal=The Burlington Magazine |date=1953 |volume=95 |issue=601 |page=130 |jstor=871101 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/871101 |issn=0007-6287}}</ref>]]
As Saladin approached Mosul, he faced the issue of taking over a large city and justifying the action.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=178}} The Zengids of Mosul appealed to [[an-Nasir]], the Abbasid caliph at Baghdad whose vizier favored them. An-Nasir sent Badr al-Badr (a high-ranking religious figure) to mediate between the two sides. Saladin arrived at the city on 10 November 1182. Izz ad-Din would not accept his terms because he considered them disingenuous and extensive, and Saladin immediately laid siege to the heavily fortified city.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=179}}

After several minor skirmishes and a stalemate in the siege that was initiated by the caliph, Saladin intended to find a way to withdraw without damage to his reputation while still keeping up some military pressure. He decided to attack Sinjar, which was held by Izz ad-Din's brother Sharaf ad-Din. It fell after a 15-day siege on 30 December.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|pp=180–181}} Saladin's soldiers broke their discipline, plundering the city; Saladin managed to protect the governor and his officers only by sending them to Mosul. After establishing a garrison at Sinjar, he awaited a coalition assembled by Izz ad-Din consisting of his forces, those from Aleppo, Mardin, and Armenia.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=171}} Saladin and his army met the coalition at Harran in February 1183, but on hearing of his approach, the latter sent messengers to Saladin asking for peace. Each force returned to their cities and al-Fadil wrote: "They [Izz ad-Din's coalition] advanced like men, like women they vanished."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lane-Poole |first1=Stanley |title=Saladin and the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem |date=1903 |publisher=Рипол Классик |isbn=978-5-87674-321-3 |page=172 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmcPAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 |language=en}}</ref>

On 2 March, al-Adil from Egypt wrote to Saladin that the Crusaders had struck the "heart of Islam". [[Crusader raids on the Red Sea|Raynald de Châtillon had sent ships]] to the [[Gulf of Aqaba]] to raid towns and villages off the coast of the [[Red Sea]]. It was not an attempt to extend the Crusader influence into that sea or to capture its trade routes, but merely a piratical move.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=184}} Nonetheless, Imad ad-Din writes the raid was alarming to the Muslims because they were not accustomed to attacks on that sea, and Ibn al-Athir adds that the inhabitants had no experience with the Crusaders either as fighters or traders.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=185}}

[[Ibn Jubair]] was told that sixteen Muslim ships were burnt by the Crusaders, who then captured a pilgrim ship and caravan at [[Aidab]]. He also reported that they intended to attack [[Medina]] and remove [[Muhammad]]'s body. [[Al-Maqrizi]] added to the rumor by claiming Muhammad's tomb was going to be relocated to Crusader territory so Muslims would make pilgrimages there. Al-Adil had his warships moved from Fustat and Alexandria to the Red Sea under the command of an Armenian mercenary Lu'lu. They broke the Crusader blockade, destroyed most of their ships, and pursued and captured those who anchored and fled into the desert.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=186}} The surviving Crusaders, numbered at 170, were ordered to be killed by Saladin in various Muslim cities.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=187}}

[[File:Inlaid brass writing box showing 'Scorpio' wearing a mail hauberk, from Mosul AD 1200-1250. (Franks Bequest, British Mus., London).jpg|thumb|left|Detail of inlaid brass writing box, with soldier wearing a [[hauberk]]. [[Mosul]], 1230–1250 CE, British Museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pen-box British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1884-0704-85 |website=britishmuseum.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nicolle |first1=David |title=Men-at-arms series 171 – Saladin and the saracens |date=1997 |publisher=Osprey publishing |url=https://www.ghazali.org/saladin/maas-171.pdf |page=14}}</ref>]]
From the point of view of Saladin, in terms of territory, the war against Mosul was going well, but he still failed to achieve his objectives and his army was shrinking; Taqi ad-Din took his men back to Hama, while Nasir ad-Din Muhammad and his forces had left. This encouraged Izz ad-Din and his allies to take the offensive. The previous coalition regrouped at Harzam some 140&nbsp;km from Harran. In early April, without waiting for Nasir ad-Din, Saladin and Taqi ad-Din commenced their advance against the coalition, marching eastward to Ras al-Ein unhindered.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=188}} By late April, after three days of "actual fighting", according to Saladin, the Ayyubids had captured [[Amid]]. He handed the city to Nur ad-Din Muhammad together with its stores, which consisted of 80,000 candles, a tower full of arrowheads, and 1,040,000 books. In return for a diploma—granting him the city, Nur ad-Din swore allegiance to Saladin, promising to follow him in every expedition in the war against the Crusaders, and repairing the damage done to the city. The fall of Amid, in addition to territory, convinced Il-Ghazi of Mardin to enter the service of Saladin, weakening Izz ad-Din's coalition.{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=191}}

Saladin attempted to gain the Caliph an-Nasir's support against Izz ad-Din by sending him a letter requesting a document that would give him legal justification for taking over Mosul and its territories. Saladin aimed to persuade the caliph claiming that while he conquered Egypt and Yemen under the flag of the Abbasids, the Zengids of Mosul openly supported the Seljuks (rivals of the caliphate) and only came to the caliph when in need. He also accused Izz ad-Din's forces of disrupting the Muslim "Holy War" against the Crusaders, stating "they are not content not to fight, but they prevent those who can". Saladin defended his own conduct claiming that he had come to Syria to fight the Crusaders, end the heresy of the Assassins, and stop the wrong-doing of the Muslims. He also promised that if Mosul was given to him, it would lead to the capture of Jerusalem, [[Constantinople]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], and the lands of the [[Almohad]]s in the [[Maghreb]], "until the word of God is supreme and the Abbasid caliphate has wiped the world clean, turning the churches into mosques". Saladin stressed that all this would happen by the will of God, and instead of asking for financial or military support from the caliph, he would capture and give the caliph the territories of [[Tikrit]], [[Daquq]], [[Khuzestan]], [[Kish Island]], and [[Oman]].{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|pp=192–194}}