How do you defeat al mualim in assassins creed?

How do you defeat al mualim in assassins creed?
when he starts to fight you you need to kill the guys first after you killed them you got to fight all lot of illusions of al mualim. when your done you fight him. when he tries to hit you do the counter attack. keep repeating it.you can hit him with your swords if you want to. -not M4est411

Another way to kill Al Mualim that is more risky is to counter him with your hidden blade, this will immediately knock him on the ground where you may then finish him off by using the hidden blade on him while he's on the ground.
P.S. ONLY USE THIS TECHNIQUE IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH YOUR SKILL OF COUNTER ATTACKS, THE HIDDEN BLADE CANNOT BLOCK (until AC2) BUT WILL INSTANLY KILL ANY TARGET THAT IS ATTACKING YOU, EVEN TEMPLARS AND BOSSES IF YOU ARE SKILLED ENOUGH TO COUNTER THEIR ATTACKS -M4est411