Najm ad-Din Ayyub, Kurdish soldier and politician

Najm al-Din Ayyub

Kurdish mercenary and politician, father of Saladin

al-Malik al-Afdal Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb ibn Shādhi ibn Marwān, or simply Najmadin, was a Kurdish mercenary and politician from Dvin, and the father of Saladin. He is the eponymous ancestor of the Ayyubid dynasty.