The inscription "Salah al-Din's Eagle" carved into the rock is located at the top of the wall of the Citadel (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi) in Cairo, on a tower in the rocky path leading to the square in which the Mamluks were slaughtered.
The Kurdish Sultan Yusuf bin Ayyub (Salah al-Din) took the image of the eagle as a emblem (RENG) for the Ayyubid state.
The Ayyubid Kurds called their slogan (RENG), which in Kurdish means (color), and they painted it red (the color of the blood of enemies) on the chest of their yellow banner, and they raised it in their armies.
And the image of the red Kurdish eagle was present in the yellow Ayyubid flag in the Battle of "Hattin" that took place between the Ayyubid Kurds and the Crusaders, which resulted in the defeat of the Crusaders and the control of the Ayyubid Kurds over the city (Jerusalem - Jerusalem) after they overthrew the Emirate of (Jerusalem). Christianity,
The "Eagle of Salah al-Din", which was the emblem of the Ayyubid Kurdish state, was mentioned in the books of ancient historians, and historians talked about the "Eagle of Salah al-Din" engraved in the "Castle of Salah al-Din" in the city of Cairo, but this engraved eagle was not mentioned in an encyclopedia of description french egypt,
And it did not appear until the era of (Muhammad Ali Pasha), which indicates that it was probably covered or was located from its place during the days of (Muhammad Ali Pasha), and that (Muhammad Ali Pasha) had re-installed it.
And the “eagle” or “the eagle” is one of the birds of the ancient world, and it is one of the powerful and prey birds, and it feeds on carrion and corpses (of the garter family),
This is one of the reasons why Sultan Yusuf (Salah al-Din) used the eagle as a emblem of his state, specifically in his wars with the Crusaders, in order to deliver a message to the Europeans that “our army will feed on your corpses.”
In addition, the "eagle" is a symbol of pride, dignity and courage against the invader and occupier.
In the year 1952 AD, the “Arab Republic of Egypt” took the Kurdish Ayyubid eagle carved into the rock on the wall of the Citadel of Salah al-Din in Cairo as the emblem of the Republic, and the new emblem of the eagle was adopted with little difference from the original form of the Ayyubid eagle
In the same year, the Kurdish Ayyubid eagle with three stars symbolizing the three religions in Egypt was added to the chest of the Egyptian flag, which was called the flag of liberation, but it was not the official flag of Egypt, but the official Egyptian flag included three stars with a crescent moon.
And in the year 1958 AD, the “United Arab Republic” was established between Egypt and Syria, and the Egyptian flag remained with two stars without the eagle or the crescent, to be the official flag of the United Arab Republic until the year 1970 AD.
In 1972, Anwar El-Sadat decided to establish the "Union of Arab Republics", comprising Egypt, Syria and Libya, and placed on the flag of that union the "Saqr of Quraish" instead of the two stars.
And "Saqr Quraish" was the motto of the "Quraysh" tribe, as was the title of the founder of the third Umayyad state in Andalusia, "Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil".
In the year 1984 AD, a year after Egypt withdrew from the “Union of Arab Republics” founded by “Anwar Sadat”, President “Hosni Mubarak” decided to return the Kurdish Ayyubid eagle to the Egyptian flag, as Law No. 144 of 1984 AD was issued to replace “Saqr Quraish” with an eagle Salah al-Din, the Kurdish who still adorns the Egyptian flag to this day,
Today, the "Kurdish Ayyubid eagle" or "Salah al-Din's eagle" is considered the emblem of the Iraqi federal region of Kurdistan.
It is also the emblem of a number of other countries, such as Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Yemen.
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- "Kurdish Antiquities" page
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