Shihab ad-Din Ahmad

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Dominion of Bahri Mamluks ( red )
Dominion of Bahri Mamluks ( red )

Shihab ad-Din Ahmad (Arabic: شهاب الدين أحمد) royal name: al-Malik al-Nasir Shihab ad-Din Ahmad (Arabic: الملك الناصر شهاب الدين أحمد)) (b. Cairo - d. 1344, Karak) was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in 1342.

Contents

[edit] Background

Al-Karak on map.
Al-Karak on map.

He was the son of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad and grandson of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. The 15th Kipchak Turkic Sultan of Egypt and the third son of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad to become a Sultan.[1] His mother was a singer named Bayyad.[2] He carried the royal title of al-Nasir which his father had. Shihab ad-Din Ahmad was born in Cairo and was sent by his father to Al Karak to learn horsemanship. When his father died in 1340 he gave a permission to his younger brother Saif ad-Din Abu-Bakr to become the new Sultan. In 1341 the powerful Emir and sultanate secretary Qusson dethroned Sultan Saif ad-Din Abu-Bakr and imprisoned him with his six brothers in Qus and became the vice-Sultan of the 7-year-old Sultan Kujuk and the actual ruler of Egypt. In 1342 Qusson was arrested by the prominent Emirs led by Emir Aidaghmash and the child Sultan Kujuk was dethroned. Emir Baibars al-Ahmadi was sent with other Emirs to Al Kark to bring the new Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad to Egypt.[3] For many days houses of Qusson's Mamluks were looted by the commons and before the arrival of Sultan Ahmad to Egypt all properities of Qusson were transferred to him. When the Emirs arrived to Al Kark, Sultan Ahmad refused to meet them, and instead, he sent to them a message ordering them to go wait in Gaza. This action of the new Sultan distressed Emir Aidaghmash who was waiting impatiently in Cairo hoping to settle the matter rapidly before things turn badly as lootings, clashes and acts of taking vengeance were spreading over Cairo. Aidaghmash received a message from Sultan Ahmad in which he thanked him and asked him to manage the country until he arrive. The six brothers of the Sultan who were imprisoned by Qusson in Qus were freed and returned to Cairo where they were warmly received by the Emirs and the commons. But again the Sultan in al Kark refused to meet the Emirs who returnd to Al Kark from Gaza and who were ordered by him, in a written message, to go back to Egypt. The Emirs were embarrassed by the behavior of the new Sultan and informed Emir Aidaghmash in Cairo. But soon messangers of Sultan Ahmad arrived to Cairo and informed Emir Aidaghmash that the Sultan is on his way to Egypt accompanied by Bedouins and that he will enter Cairo at night from the cemetery gate then will pass into the citadel via the secret entrance.

[edit] Return to Egypt

Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad arrived at night as he promised, accompanied by ten men from Al Karak and, to the astonishment of Aidaghmash and the Emirs, his face was veiled. In the morning, Sultan Ahmad called Aidaghmash and told him : " I did not want to become a Sultan. I was satisfied at my place there. When you called me I had no choice but to come". Streets of Cairo were decorated and Aidaghmash, on request of the Sultan, wrote a message to the Emirs of Syria to inform them of his arrival. The sultan signed the message with : " The Mamluk Ahmad son of Muhammad" [4]. The Emirs did not like the manners of the new Sultan and asked Aidaghmash to meet them in Siryakus [5] to decide what to do about him. On the day of the festival of Eid ul-Fitr [6] Sultan Ahmad did not attend the Eid public prayer and forbad serving the festival dinner inside the citadel, which were customs of all previous Mamluk sultans. He ordered the Emirs not to come to the citadel and he stayed alone with his men from Al Karak. The Emirs of Syria, among them Qatlubugha and tshatmar Homos akhdar [7] , arrived to Cairo and expressed their displeasure over the odd behavior and the Bedouin clothes of the Sultan to Emir Aidaghmash. Aidaghmash suggested the dismissal of the Sultan but the Emirs did not agree. The Sultan granted the post of vice-Sultan to Emir tshatmar Homos akhdar and made Aidaghmash his deputy in Aleppo but soon tshatmar Homos akhdar was arrested inside the citadel for misuse of power and improper treatment of the Sultan's friends from Al Kark. Emir Qatlubugha was also arrested later by Aidaghmash in Bisan. The Sultan informed the Emirs that he, the Caliph [8] and a few Emirs are going to Al Karak and will come back to Cairo after a month.

[edit] Departure to Al Karak

Al-Karak Castle.
Al-Karak Castle.

Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad , veiled and dressed in Bedouin cloths, left Cairo with his men from Al Kark followed by the Caliph and the Emirs. Arriving at Al Kark, the Sultan ordered the Caliph to go to Jerusalem. The arrested Emirs tshatmar Homos akhdar and Qatlubugha were brought to Al Karak and imprisoned in the castle. The Sultan ordered the bringing of all properties of the two Emirs and all the women from the household of Qatlubugha to Al Karak where the properties were plundered by the inhabitants and the women were badly mistreated. The Sultan did not return to Cairo as he has promised. In Egypt, the commons began to wonder about the absence of the Sultan and the Emirs were very distressed about the extraordinary and brutal treatment of Emir Qatlubugha in Al Karak by the Sultan. As time passed, the situation in Egypt became very disturbing. A messanger from Cairo was sent to the Sultan in Al Kark urging him to return to Egypt shortly but the Sultan showed no interest in returning to Egypt. The Sultan refused to meet the messanger but sent him a written message with this answer : " I am staying at the place which I admire. I will return to you when I feel I like to do that ". News reached Cairo that the Sultan killed both Emirs Qatlubugha and tshatmar Homos Akhdar.

[edit] Dethroning

The distressed Emirs decided to depose the Sultan and replace him with his brother Ismail. Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad was dethroned by the Emirs after he ruled three months and thirteen days. He was asked to return the money and propertries he transported from Egypt to Al Karak [9] or both he and Al Karak will face severe consequence. Al Karak was besieged and Shihab ad-Din Ahmad was captured and killed in 1344 and his head was sent to Egypt. He was remembered by the Emirs as a bad and ill mannered Sultan who robbed the wealth of Egypt, mistreated the nobles and abused bondmaids [10].


Regnal titles
Preceded by
Kujuk		 Mamluk Sultan
1342		 Succeeded by
Imad ad-Din Ismail

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Eight sons of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad became Sultans. ( See Al-Nasir Muhammad).
  2. ^ Bayyad بياض , mother of Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad, was a singer at the palace of Emir Bahader before she moved to the court of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad. She married, later, Emir Mulkatmar.
  3. ^ For details see Saif ad-Din Abu-Bakr and Kujuk.
  4. ^ Mamluks Signing etiquette: each sultan had own unique signature which was called Alamah (Mark). An Official signed with his own name only and added the name of his father if his father was a Sultan.
  5. ^ Siryakus, a small town north of Cairo. During the reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammed a royal resrot was built nearby.
  6. ^ Eid Al-Fitr, also known, from Turkish, as the Lesser Bairam, is a festival that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
  7. ^ Homos Akhdar حمص أخضر ( green chickpeas ) was the nickname of Emir Tshatmar al-Badri given to him by commons.
  8. ^ After the Mongols sacked Baghdad and killed the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta'sim, Sultan al-Zahir Baibars installed an Abbasid Caliphate in Cairo which was rather a symbolic Caliphate. The Abbasid Caliph in Cairo had actually no authority or power, he was mostly only involved in the ceremonies of crowning the Sultans.
  9. ^ During his stay in Egypt Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad transported cattle, fowls, horses, wild animals, gold and silver to Al Karak
  10. ^ Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad used to deprive the palace bondmaids of their jewelry

[edit] References

  • Abu al-Fida, The Concise History of Humanity
  • Al-Maqrizi, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997.
  • Idem in English: Bohn, Henry G., The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades, AMS Press, 1969.
  • Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar,Matabat aladab,Cairo 1996, ISBN977-241-175X.
  • Idem in French: Bouriant, Urbain , Description topographique et historique de l'Egypte,Paris 1895
  • Ibn Taghri, al-Nujum al-Zahirah Fi Milook Misr wa al-Qahirah, al-Hay'ah al-Misreyah 1968
  • History of Egypt, 1382-1469 A.D. by Yusef. William Popper, translator Abu L-Mahasin ibn Taghri Birdi, University of California Press 1954
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