 The Ayyubids had three principal means of recruiting the educated elites whom they needed to administer their cities and towns . Some of these local leaders , known as shaykhs , entered the service of an Ayyubid ruling household and thus their bids for power were supported from Ayyubid household revenues and influence . Others were paid directly out of revenues made from the diwan , a high governmental body of the state . The third method was assignment to the shaykhs of the revenues of charitable endowments , known as <unk> . The Ayyubids , like their various predecessors in the region , had relatively few state agencies by which they could penetrate their cities and towns . To link themselves with the educated elite of their cities , they relied on the political usage of patronage practices . The assignment of waqf revenue to this elite was similar to the assignment of fiefs ( iqta 'at ) to the commanders and generals of the army . In both cases , it enabled the Ayyubids to recruit a dependent , but not administratively subordinate elite . 
