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Asad ad-Dīn Shīrkūh bin Shādhī (; ), (died 23 March 1169) was a Kurds Mercenary commander in service of the Zengid dynasty, then the Fatimid Caliphate and uncle of Saladin. His military and diplomatic efforts in Egypt were a key factor in establishing the Ayyubid dynasty in that country.
His Arabic honorific Asad ad-Din similarly means "the lion of faith". In Latin, his name was rendered as "Siraconus"; William of Tyre, referring to the expedition of 1163, describes him as:
an able and energetic warrior, eager for glory and of wide experience in military affairs. Generous far beyond the resources of his patrimony, Shirkuh was beloved by his followers because of this munificence. He was small of stature, very stout and fat and already advanced in years. Though of lowly origin, he had become rich and risen by merit from his humble estate to the rank of prince. He was afflicted with cataract in one eye. He was a man of great endurance under hardships, one who bore hunger and thirst with an equanimity quite unusual for that time of life.William, Abp. of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, Volume 2, Octagon Books 1976, p.303
In 1163 Nur ad-Din was asked by Shawar to intervene in Egypt in a dispute between him and Dirgham over the Fatimid vizierate. Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh, and this was to be the first of three ventures Shirkuh made into Egypt. These nominally on Nur ad-Din's behalf, who gave him a grant of 200,000 Dinar and allowed Shirkuh to select 2,000 soldiers from his regiments (aksar) with campaign materiel and another special grant of 20 dinars for each soldier. He also had 8,000 horsemen, including 500 Mamluk and Kurds, from his own regiment from his appanage of Homs. Shirkuh used his grant to hire 6,000 Turkmen cavalry, commanded by Aineddawla Yaruqi.Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb (1962). 9781400855193, Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400855193
On this first occasion, his nephew Saladin accompanied him as an advisor. Shawar was restored and Dirgham was killed, but after quarrelling with Shirkuh, Shawar allied with Amalric I of Jerusalem, who marched into Egypt in 1164 and besieged Shirkuh at BilbeisIbn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, vol.4, trams. Bn. Mac Guckin de Slane, Edouard Blot, Paris 1871 p.486 (see Crusader invasion of Egypt). In response Nur ad-Din attacked the Crusader states and almost captured the Principality of Antioch.
Shirkuh and his associates enjoyed widespread support among the civil elite In Egypt for religious reasons. Although the Fatimid rulers were Shiite, the majority of people remained Sunni Muslims. In January 1169 Shirkuh entered Cairo and had the untrustworthy Shawar executed. When he reached Cairo with his armies he was welcomed by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Adid and treated with great honour.Lane-Poole, Stanley, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, The Other Press, Kuala Lumpur 2007 p.86 He accepted the office of vizier, but died two months later on 22 March; as Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad describes, "it was the case that Asad ad-Din was a great eater, excessively given to partaking of rich meats. He suffered many bouts of indigestion and from quinsy, from which he would recover after putting up with great discomfort. He was taken severely ill, afflicted with a serious quinsy, which killed him on 22 Jumada al-thani 564 23."
Although Nur ad-Din Zengi took back the domain of Homs on Shirkuh's death, in 1179 Saladin gave Homs to Shirkuh's son Muhammad ibn ShirkuhRunciman S. Hunyadi Z., Laszlovszky J., The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontier of Medieval Latin Christianity, CEU Medievalia, 2001,p.62 and his descendants continued to rule in Homs thereafter until the death in 1263 of his last descendant the emir, Al-Ashraf Musa, Emir of Homs. After this Homs was ruled directly as part of the Mamluk Empire.
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