Today in this article on our True Stories website, we tell you a wonderful story, one of the most beautiful stories of the great Arab heritage, which is the story of Najm al-Din Ayyub’s marriage and the birth of the great leader Saladin al-Ayyubi. Enjoy with us now reading this story and do not forget to tell us your opinion about it through the comments. For more, you can visit Section: Stories and lessons.
The story of Najm al-Din Ayoub's marriage
Najm al-Din Ayyub, Emir of Tikrit, lived for a long time without marriage, until his brother Asad al-Din Shirakoh came to him and asked him why he did not marry, and Najm al-Din replied to him, saying: I cannot find someone suitable for me,
So Asad al-Din said to him: Should I not propose to you? He asked him: Whose daughter? His brother replied: The daughter of Sultan Muhammad bin Malik Shah, the Seljuk Sultan, or the daughter of the king’s vizier. Najm al-Din shook his head in objection and said: They are not suitable for me. Asad al-Din turned to him in astonishment and asked him: Who is suitable for you then?
Najm al-Din replied to him seriously: I want a good wife who will take me by the hand to Paradise and give birth to a son for me that we will raise well until he grows up and becomes a knight and restores Jerusalem to the Muslims. Asad al-Din did not like these words and said to his brother: Where did you get this from?! Najm al-Din replied to him: Whoever has sincere intentions for God, God will provide for him.
One day, while Najm al-Din was sitting in the council of one of the sheikhs in one of the mosques in Tikrit, a girl came calling to the sheikh from behind the curtain. The sheikh asked permission from Najm al-Din and went to talk to the girl. Najm al-Din heard the sheikh say to her: Why did you return the boy whom I sent to your house to propose to you? ?! All she had to do was answer him: He is a beautiful young man of stature and stature, but he is not suitable for me. So the sheikh asked her about the reason and she said to him: I want a good man who will take me by the hand to heaven, and give birth to a son from him that we will raise well and who will become a knight who will restore Jerusalem to the Muslims.
God is Great.. These are the same words that Najm al-Din said to his brother Lasad al-Din, and the same situation as well, as Najm al-Din refused to marry the daughter of the Sultan and the daughter of the minister despite their status, beauty and authority, and this girl also rejected the man who proposed to her despite his money. And his status and beauty, and the two rejections were for the same reason, they both wanted to marry a good person who would take him to heaven and give birth to a knight who would restore Jerusalem to the Muslims.
Najm al-Din hurried to the sheikh and called him and told him that he wanted to marry this girl. The sheikh was astonished and said to him: But she is one of the poor people of the neighbourhood. So Najm al-Din said to him: This is the one I want. Indeed, Najm al-Din married the girl with his sincere intentions to God Almighty, so may God grant him what He wished, so she gave birth to Najm al-Din a son who became a knight who restored the Holy City to the Muslims, namely (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi)... This is our heritage and this is what should be taught to our children.