Islam
Safadin
Saladin had seventeen sons. His eldest, al-Afdal, tried to move into his father's position as Sultan, but though he was accepted at Damascus, other brothers were not long in asserting their independence. In truth, Saladin had succeeded in imposing his authority, but had failed to create unity. The traditional centers of power, with their old rivalries, soon reappeared. In Egypt, al-Aziz proclaimed an independent sultanate. Az-Zahir in Aleppo refused to recognize al-Afda's authority there.
The Ayyubids quarreled throughout the 1190s, as the various sons, plus an uncle, contended with one another over Damascus. The eventual victory, by 1201, was the uncle, al-Adil (known among the Christians as Safadin). Al-Adil was faced with almost continual crusades, in the face of which he pursued a policy of peace in Palestine, trying to avoid giving Christendom a reason to unite against him. This left him free to attend to keeping in line his contentious nephews.
The Ayyubids were alarmed by the fall of Constantinople With Christendom united, the Franks and Greeks would surely proceed against Islam with alarming consequences. But, of course, this never happened. The true danger for the Ayyubids was not from the Christians, Greek or Latin, but from within, from their own divisions.
Ironically, the immediate result of the Fourth Crusade was peace for Palestine. The truce between Jerusalem and Damascus was undisturbed for ten years. A further, five-year truce was signed in 1212.
In 1216, a new crusade was in preparation, and al-Adil received a letter from the Christian pope that he should return Jerusalem while he could, to save himself from the great invasion. The Sultan had no intention of doing this, but he certainly had cause to be concerned. In the first place, the Franks were said to be amassing great armies, led by many kings. At the same time, the political situation within Islam was less than ideal.
Egypt was ruled by al-Malik al-Kamil, the son of al-Adil. He was caught quite unprepared for the Fifth Crusade, thinking that the truce would not be violated. The Franks had been on the march in 1217 but nothing had come of it. Both al-Kamil and his father hoped the Christians would not attack Egypt and believed they were in any case too poorly organized to be successful.
Damietta fell to the Franks in August 1218. That same month, the Sultan's son al-Muzzam had re-taken Caesarea. But within days of hearing of the loss of Damietta, al-Adil was dead. He was succeeded in Damascus by al-Muzzam and in Cairo by al-Kamil.