Saladin

Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known in Europe as Saladin, was born in Tikrit in present-day Iraq into a Kurdish military family. He grew up in Syria and served under his uncle Shirkuh in the army of Nur al-Din, the ruler of Damascus. Sent with his uncle to Egypt, he became vizier there in 1169, and soon ended the Fatimid caliphate, restoring the Sunni Abbasid allegiance. After Nur al-Din's death, Saladin united Egypt and Syria under his rule and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. In 1187 he destroyed the army of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Horns of Hattin and then took Jerusalem, sparing its Christian inhabitants who could pay ransom. The loss of Jerusalem launched the Third Crusade, led by Richard I of England, Philip II of France and the emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Richard won battles at Acre and Arsuf but could not retake Jerusalem, and in 1192 the two rulers made a truce allowing Christian pilgrims to visit the city. He died in Damascus in 1193, leaving so little money that his funeral had to be paid for by others.

Faith: A Sunni Muslim ruler of Kurdish origin. Source: Wikipedia