Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt
| |
|---|---|
| 1171–1260a/1341 | |
 Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt (in pink) at the death of Saladin in 1193 | |
| Status | Sovereign state (1171–1260) |
| Capital | |
| Common languages | |
| Religion | [7] |
| Government | Sultanate (princely confederation) under the Abbasid Caliphate[8] |
| Sultan | |
• 1174–1193 | Saladin (first) |
• 1193–1198 | Al-Aziz |
• 1198–1200 | Al-Mansur |
• 1200–1218 | Al-Adil I |
• 1218–1238 | Al-Kamil |
• 1238–1240 | Al-Adil II |
• 1240–1249 | As-Salih Ayyub |
• 1250–1250 | Shajar al-durr |
• 1250–1254 | Al-Ashraf |
| History | |
| 1171 | |
• Disestablished | 1260a/1341 |
| Area | |
| 1190 est.[9] | 2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi) |
| 1200 est.[10] | 1,700,000 km2 (660,000 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 12th century | 7,200,000 (estimate)c |
| Currency | Dinar, Dirham |
aA branch of the Ayyubid dynasty ruled Hasankeyf until the early 16th century. bFor details of the languages spoken by the Ayyubid rulers and their subjects, see § Religion, ethnicity and language below. cThe total population of the Ayyubid territories is unknown. This population figure only includes Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Transjordan. Other Ayyubid territories, including coastal areas of Yemen, the Hejaz, Nubia and Cyrenaica are not included. | |
The Ayyubid dynasty (Arabic: الأيوبيون, romanized: al-Ayyūbīyūn; Kurdish: ئەیووبییەکان, romanized: Eyûbiyan), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin,[8][11][12][13] Saladin had originally served the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din, leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt, where he was made Vizier. Following Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin was proclaimed as the first Sultan of Egypt by the Abbasid Caliphate, and rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant (including the former territories of Nur ad-Din), in addition to Hijaz, Yemen, northern Nubia, Tarabulus, Cyrenaica, southern Anatolia, and northern Iraq, the homeland of his Kurdish family. By virtue of his sultanate including Hijaz, the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the first ruler to be hailed as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that would be held by all subsequent sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517.[14][15] Saladin's military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders, set the general borders and sphere of influence of the sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s.
After Saladin's death in 1193, his sons contested control of the sultanate, but Saladin's brother al-Adil ultimately became the sultan in 1200. All of the later Ayyubid sultans of Egypt were his descendants. In the 1230s, the emirs of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and the Ayyubid realm remained divided until Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored its unity by subduing most of Syria, except Aleppo, by 1247. By then, local Muslim dynasties had driven out the Ayyubids from Yemen, the Hijaz, and parts of Mesopotamia. After his death in 1249, as-Salih Ayyub was succeeded in Egypt by his son al-Mu'azzam Turanshah. However, the latter was soon overthrown by his Mamluk generals who had repelled a Crusader invasion of the Nile Delta. This effectively ended Ayyubid power in Egypt. Attempts by the emirs of Syria, led by an-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo, to wrest back Egypt failed. In 1260, the Mongols sacked Aleppo and conquered the Ayyubids' remaining territories soon after. The Mamluks, who expelled the Mongols, maintained the Ayyubid principality of Hama until deposing its last ruler in 1341.
Despite their relatively short tenure, the Ayyubid dynasty had a transformative effect on the region, particularly Egypt. Under the Ayyubids, Egypt, which had previously been a formally Shi'a caliphate, became the dominant Sunni political and military force, and the economic and cultural centre of the region, a status that it would retain until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1517. Throughout the sultanate, Ayyubid rule ushered in an era of economic prosperity, and the facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world. This period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of vigorously strengthening Sunni Muslim dominance in the region by constructing numerous madrasas (Islamic schools of law) in their major cities. Even after being toppled by the Mamluks, the sultanate built by Saladin and the Ayyubids would continue in Egypt, the Levant and the Hijaz for another 267 years.
- ^ a b c Humphreys 1987, p. 164–167.
- ^ France 1998, pp. 122–123
- ^ Öpengin 2021, p. 612.
- ^ Magill 1998, p. 809
- ^ France 1998, p. 84
- ^ Ahmed, Rumee (2018). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law. Oxford University Press. p. 311. ISBN 978-0-19-166826-5.
- ^ Eliade, Mircea (1987). "Kalam". The Encyclopedia of Religion. 8: 238. ISBN 978-0-02-909790-8.
- ^ a b Jackson 1996, p. 36.
- ^ Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006, p. 223
- ^ Taagepera 1997, p. 495.
- ^ Humphreys 1987
- ^ Özoğlu 2004, p. 46
- ^ Bosworth 1996, p. 73
- ^ Fakkar, Galal (27 January 2015). "Story behind the king's title". Arab News. Jeddah. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ^ Eiselen 1907, p. 89