The Paternity of Selahattin Eyyubî

Abstract

The paternity of Selahattin Eyyubî, who is a historical hero as he fought against Christians and removed them from Kudus has been discussed for a long time. Besides whether the state he set up was Turkish or not. According to some rumors his paternity was Kurdish but was Arabic according to some sources. However in many sources he was claimed to be Turkish. How suffi cient are the sources to determine the identity and the paternity of Selahattin Eyyubî and to what extent historical and cultural data in his term were reviewed? What did Selahattin Eyyubî think about his paternity? What are documents of evidence for this issue? These are the questions to be answered. What a person did and his services are of course is much more important than his paternity and to what ethnicity he belonged to. Nonetheless, if the sources commented on this issue diff erently or distorted the reality, then scientists should reanalyze the claims taking care of the sources of that period.