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Article: SIDE LIGHTS.(the Kurdish general Saladin lived between 1138 and 1193)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- March 19, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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* The Kurds have lived in the Middle East for more than 4,000 years. Historians believe they are related to the ancient Persians.
* The most famous Kurd in history is Saladin (drawing below), a famous Muslim general who lived between 1138 and 1193. At the time Saladin lived, Muslims were divided between two caliphates, or governments, by caliphs (rulers claiming to be successors to Muhammad, the founder of Islam). The competing caliphates were the Fatimids, who ruled from Egypt, and the Abassids, who ruled from Baghdad in what is now Iraq. Saladin ended the Fatimid dynasty, establishing one Muslim empire from Spain to the borders of India.
* A continued ...