al-Adid (1149-1171) was Caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate from 1160 to 1171, succeeding al-Faiz. He was the last ruler of the Fatimids, and Saladin took over Egypt as the first ruler of the Ayyubid Sultanate.
Biography[]
al-Adid was born in 1149, the son of Fatimid caliph az-Zafir. After the death of his child brother al-Faiz, he became the new caliph, inheriting a fragmenting Fatimid Caliphate. In 1163, Shawar made himself Vizier after assassinating the previous vizier Dirgham, and Shawar fought off invading crusaders. The 1160s saw viziers compete for power, and Shawar was executed by the rival vizier Shirkuh in 1169. al-Adid died of natural causes in 1171, and Shirkuh's nephew Saladin founded the Ayyubid Sultanate, replacing the Shi'ite Fatimids with the Sunni Kurdish Ayyubids.