Najm ad-Din Ayyub was the governor of Tikrit. It was in Tikrit that Salah ad-Din was born in 1137/1138, on the very night his family was forced to leave the city to enter the service of the Zengids in Mosul.

Unlike secular knights who could be ransomed, Saladin viewed the military orders (Templars and Hospitallers) as fanatical enemies who would never stop fighting. Consequently, he ordered the execution of those captured after Hattin to weaken the Crusader military infrastructure.

Al-Qadi al-Fadil was Saladin's chief administrator and vizier. Saladin famously said that he did not conquer lands by his sword alone, but by the pen of Al-Qadi al-Fadil, highlighting his importance in governance and diplomacy.

Al-Kamil was the Sultan who defended Egypt during the Fifth Crusade (1218–1221). The Crusaders captured the port of Damietta, but Al-Kamil eventually defeated them by cutting off their retreat via the flooding of the Nile.

The Treaty of Ramla was signed between Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. It allowed Jerusalem to remain in Muslim hands but permitted unarmed Christian pilgrims to visit the city and left the coast from Jaffa to Tyre in Crusader hands.

The Ayyubids are most commonly associated with a yellow banner. Yellow was the color used by the Ayyubid family in battle and on their standards, distinguishing them from the black of the Abbasids or the green/white of other dynasties.

Maimonides, the preeminent Jewish philosopher and scholar, lived in Fustat (Old Cairo) and served as the court physician to Saladin and his vizier Al-Qadi al-Fadil. His tenure reflects the relative tolerance of the Ayyubid court.

Salah ad-Din was the first ruler to formally use the title Khadim al-Haramayn al-Sharifayn. This title emphasized that his authority was based on protecting the Islamic holy sites and the pilgrimage routes, a tradition later adopted by Mamluk, Ottoman, and Saudi rulers.

The famous intricate wooden minbar was commissioned by Nur ad-Din Zengi in Aleppo in 1168, intended for the Al-Aqsa Mosque once Jerusalem was liberated. Saladin fulfilled this vision by moving it to Jerusalem in 1187.

In 1219, fearing that the Crusaders of the Fifth Crusade would capture Jerusalem and use its walls for defense, the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, Al-Mu'azzam Isa, ordered the destruction of the city's fortifications, much to the despair of the local population.