“After I die, you will see these Muslims fall apart in disunity, and you will see the Europeans grow strong. The best thing to do for now is to continue the fight until we drive them from the Coast (of Palestine) or die.”
This is a statement of Salah ad-Din Abu’l-Afdal Yusuf ibn al-Ayyub, popularly known as “Saladin” in the West, as recorded by his personal companion and scribe, Ibn Shaddad (page 203 of his chronicles). Saladin stated this after King Richard of England proposed that Saladin’s brother, Sayf ad-Din (popularly known as “Safadin” in the West), should marry his siter Joanna. So admirable was Saladin’s character that his worst enemy who had traveled over 2000 miles to eliminate him, ended up offering his own sister to his family. This is the result of Perfect Islamic Ikhlaq and ’Adab.
Also, Saladin stated in regards to the troubles he endured uniting the entire Muslim world under one banner:
“I do not know what will happen to me, if Allah wills that the enemy should grow strong. They have established a base from which they can retrieve other lands. you will see these Muslim leaders sitting at the tops of their grandiose towers saying, ‘I shall not come down,’ until the Muslim world will be destroyed.”
For more information please visit http://islamichub.net/2014/03/the-ominous-words-of-salah-ad-din-ayyubi-about-our-ummah/