Saladin was born in [[Tikrit]] in present-day [[Iraq]]. His personal name was "Yusuf"; "Salah ad-Din" is a ''[[laqab]]'', an honorific epithet, meaning "Righteousness of the Faith".<ref>[[H. A. R. Gibb]], "The Rise of Saladin", in ''A History of the Crusades'', vol. 1: The First Hundred Years, ed. [[Kenneth M. Setton]] (University of Wisconsin Press, 1969). p. 563.</ref> His family was most likely of [[Kurds|Kurdish]] ancestry,<ref name="Minorsky">The medieval historian Ibn Athir relates a passage from another commander: "...both you and Saladin are Kurds and you will not let power pass into the hands of the Turks." Minorsky (1957): {{Page needed|date=September 2010}}.</ref>{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=4}}<ref>The biographer [[Ibn Khallikan]] wrote, "Historians agree in stating that [Saladin's] father and family belonged to [[Dvin (ancient city)|Duwin]].&nbsp;... They were Kurds and belonged to the Rawādiya [sic], which is a branch of the great tribe al-Hadāniya": Minorsky (1953), p. 124.</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=R. Stephen |last=Humphreys |title=From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260 |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1977 |page=29 |isbn=0-87395-263-4 |quote=Among the free-born amirs the Kurds would seem the most dependent on Saladin's success for the progress of their own fortunes. He too was a Kurd, after all&nbsp;... }}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saladin|title=Saladin|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=7 April 2023 |quote=Saladin was born into a prominent Kurdish family.}}</ref> and had originated from the village of Ajdanakan{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=4}} near the city of [[Dvin (ancient city)|Dvin]] in central [[Armenia]].{{sfn|Baha ad-Din|2002|p=17}}{{sfn|Ter-Ghevondyan|1965|p=218}} The Rawadiya tribe he hailed from had been partially assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world by this time.{{sfn|Tabbaa|1997|p=31}} In Saladin's era, no scholar had more influence than sheikh [[Abdul Qadir Gilani]], and Saladin was strongly influenced and aided by him and his pupils.<ref name="Futuh-al-Ghayb">{{cite web |author='Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani |date=20 January 2019 |editor=[[:ar:جمال الدين فالح الكيلاني|Jamal ad-Din Faleh al-Kilani]] |title=Futuh al-Ghayb ("Revelations of the Unseen") |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVqEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |website=[[Google Books]] |language=ar |quote=وقد تأثر به القائد صلاح الدين الأيوبي، والشيخ معين الدين الجشتي، والشيخ شهاب الدين عمر السهروردي رحمهم الله}}</ref><ref name="Azzam">{{cite book |last1=Azzam |first1=Abdul Rahman |title=Saladin |year=2009 |publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=978-1-4058-0736-4 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7gMAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> In 1132, the defeated army of [[Imad ad-Din Zengi|Zengi]], [[Atabeg of Mosul]], found their retreat blocked by the [[Tigris River]] opposite the fortress of Tikrit, where Saladin's father, [[Najm ad-Din Ayyub]] served as the warden. Ayyub provided ferries for the army and gave them refuge in Tikrit. Mujahid ad-Din Bihruz, a former Greek slave who had been appointed as the military governor of northern Mesopotamia for his service to the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuks]], reprimanded Ayyub for giving Zengi refuge and in 1137 banished Ayyub from Tikrit after his brother [[Asad al-Din Shirkuh|Asad ad-Din Shirkuh]] killed a friend of Bihruz. According to [[Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad]], Saladin was born on the same night that his family left Tikrit. In 1139, Ayyub and his family moved to Mosul, where Imad ad-Din Zengi acknowledged his debt and appointed Ayyub commander of his fortress in [[Baalbek]]. After the death of Zengi in 1146, his son, [[Nur ad-Din (died 1174)|Nur ad-Din]], became the regent of Aleppo and the leader of the [[Zengids]].{{sfn|Lyons|Jackson|1982|p=3}}