Abstract:

The development and strengthening of intelligence organizations is imperative for states with large territories and the managers who decided to take on major political roles. The establishment of central administration and administrative infrastructures in every corner of the country, prevention of external threats, the other things to one side, depend on the power and the functioning of internal and external intelligence. The intelligence network in the Zangids and Ayyûbids period improved as a result of these processes. During the Zangids and Ayyûbids, the struggles against the Crusaders necessitated the strengthening of the intelligence agency. Atabeg Imâdaddin Zangi, his son Nuruddin Mahmud, and Saladin Ayyûbî, benefited from all sources and communication means that provided internal and external intelligence information. During the Saladin Ayyûbî period, the Ayyûbids spies played a crucial role against the crusader threat and the Ismailî assassinations and conspiracies of Fatimid statesmen. This study aims to evaluate the importance of the sources, duties, and procedures of intelligence, mostly through the periods of Atabag Zangi, Nureddin Mahmud b. Zangi and Saladin Ayyûbî, during the Zangids and Ayyûbids period.

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