The family were closely connected to the Shaddadid dynasty, and when the last Shaddadid was deposed in Dvin in 1130, Shadhi moved the family first to Baghdad and then to Tikrit, where he was appointed governor by the regional administrator Bihruz.
Ayyub's son Saladin also took up service with Nur ad-Din, and he was sent to Egypt to take control in Nur ad-Din's name during the period of joint crusader-Byzantine invasions.