Baha al-Din Qaraqush

Baha al-Din Qaraqush al-Asadi al-Rumi al-Maliki al-Nasiri (Arabic: بهاء الدين أبو سعيد قراقوش بن عبد الله الأسدي) was a eunuch military commander in the service of Saladin.

He served as palace chamberlain and gaoler of the deposed Fatimid dynasty, and undertook for his master the construction of the Citadel of Cairo and the fortification of Acre.

Although highly esteemed by contemporaries and historians, his posthumous reputation derives chiefly from a satirical pamphlet by a political opponent that lampoons him as a stupid and tyrannical monarch.

The origin and early life of Qaraqush are unknown; not even the name of his father survives, and he was known in Arabic with the patronymic ibn Abdallah (i.e., 'son of a [nameless] servant of God').

[1][9] In summer 1187, he was summoned to reinforce the defences of the port city of Acre, which Saladin wanted to turn into his main base for operations against the Crusaders.

[1] When al-Mansur ascended the throne, Qaraqush received the high title of atabeg, but was soon forced to retire by the commanders and the chief secretary, Ibn Mammati, likely due to his advanced age, and replaced as regent by another of Saladin's sons, al-Afdal.

[1][16] At any rate, the exaggerated stories circulated by Ibn Mammati to discredit his rival succeeded: the work proved so popular that the historical person has been forever overshadowed by the anecdotes, and the name 'Qaraqush' has become a "byword of stupidity",[1] and a "symbol of a lunatic tyrant".

View of the Citadel of Cairo, originally built by Qaraqush for Saladin, from the south in the late 19th century, with the later Mamluk and Ottoman additions