At the time, Saladin had two elder brothers: Shahanshah and Turanshah. Shahanshah had the same mother as Saladin and was probably at least fifteen years older than he, since his son, Taqi al-Din ‘Umar, was born only two years after Saladin. Saladin’s mother, therefore, about whom nothing else is known, must have been at least thirty when Saladin was born. The two children, Saladin and Taqi al-Din, grew up side by side. Hence the very strong bond that united them until Taqi al-Din’s death in 1191, despite the tensions that sometimes arose between them.