Tancred , Prince of Galilee , took it in 1108 , but in 1114 the Crusaders lost it definitively to the Seljuks . The governor of Hama in the early 12th century was Ali Kurd , and his sons , Nasir and Kurdanshah became vassals of Toghtekin . In 1157 an earthquake shattered the city . For the next sixty years , Hama was battled for by competing rulers . Nur al-Din , the Zengid sultan , erected a mosque with a tall , square minaret in the city in 1172 . In 1175 , Hama was taken from the Zengids by Saladin . He granted the city to his nephew , al-Muzaffar Umar , four years later , putting it under the rule of his Ayyubid family . This ushered in an era of stability and prosperity in Hama as the Ayyubids ruled it almost continuously until 1342 . Geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi , who was born in Hama , described it in 1225 as a large town surrounded by a strongly built wall . Hama was sacked by the Mongols in 1260 , as were most other Syrian cities , but the Mongols were defeated that same year and then again in 1303 by the Mamluks who succeeded the Ayyubids as rulers of the region . Hama briefly passed to Mamluk control in 1299 after the death of governor al-Mansur Mahmoud II . However , unlike other former Ayyubid cities , the Mamluks reinstated Ayyubid rule in Hama by making Abu al-Fida , the historian and geographer , governor of the city and he reigned from 1310 to 1332 . He described his city as " very ancient ... mentioned in the book of the Israelites . It is one of the pleasantest places in Syria . " After his death , he was succeeded by his son al-Afdal Muhammad who eventually lost Mamluk favor and was deposed . Thus , Hama came under direct Mamluk control
1157 an earthquake
1157 Hama earthquake
Hama