of Egypt. In 1250, the Ayyubid Sultan Tūrān (1249–50) was slain by Bahrite Mamluks who seized power. The amir Aibak (1250–57), a slave of Tūrān, became the head of the administration, and later proclaimed himself as the Sultan. Aibak was himself assassinated in 1257 and his minor son was raised to the titular Sultanate, while Qutuz (1259–60) a distinguished Mamluk assumed the post of vicegerent. After two years Qutuz took power directly in his own name. He gave, for the first time, a crushing defeat to the Mongols. Despite the victory however, he was stabbed to death the very next year by another slave, Baibars (1260–77), who became Sultan of Egypt. Baibars, through wise administration, succeeded in securing his power and popularity. He reduced the taxes that had made his predecessors’ rule unpopular, and fostered public works, improved canals, harbours and fortifications.
(a) Re-establishment of the Abbasid caliphate
After capturing the Egyptian throne, Baibars conceived the idea of re-establishing the Abbasid Caliphate which, two or three years previously, had been swept away and the whole Abbasid house destroyed, by Hūlāgū (1256–65) at Baghdad. Having heard that an Abbasid had survived the Mongol massacre, Baibars had him brought from Syria to Cairo, and there installed him as caliph. Baibars and officers of state swore fealty to him, while he in turn conferred on Baibars the sovereign title.4 Thus, with this religious approval from the caliph, Baibars strengthened his rule.
During the Mamluk rule, the position of the Abbasid caliph varied little under the different sultans: his office remained but a shadow and a name. He was brought out on important state occasions, such as every fresh succession to the sultanate, as the religious head, to grant his recognition of the title, and then put back again. Nevertheless, largely owing to the presence of the Abbasid caliph in Cairo, Egypt became the focus of the then Islamic world. ‘Ulamā’, jurists and scholars were attracted to Cairo and their residence in it made Egypt the centre of learning in the Islamic world.
(b) Sultan Nāṣir Muḥammad bin Qalāwūn
After Baibars’ death, in a period of thirty-three years (from 1277 to 1309) nine sultans came to the throne, but none was able to survive long except Qalāwūn (1279–90) who proved a wise and strong monarch. During his twelve-year reign, he defeated all his enemies and opponents, and left Egypt politically and economically stronger.
In 1309, Nāṣir Muḥammad bin Qalāwūn (1293–94, 1298–1308, 1309–41) came to power for the third time and ruled for the next thirty-two years, a period considered to be the golden age of the Mamluk dynasty. He introduced a number of political and economic reforms,5 and extended diplomatic relations with the neighbouring countries. He respected the ‘ulamā’ and the learned men.
Ibn Taimīyah’s great achievements in the academic, political and economic fields belong in this age. Nāṣir gave him the highest rank among the ‘ulamā’, though he had him put in prison in his last years on account of misunderstandings created by rival jurists against him and his ideas.6
Nāṣir died in 1341. The Bahrite Mamluk dynasty lasted to 1382 but, though many sultans came to the throne, they were not as successful and strong as their predecessors.
(c) Foreign policy
There were very close ties between the Egyptian sultans and the Indian kings. Sultan Muḥammad Tughluq and after him Fīrūz Shāh obtained their titles of sovereignty from the Abbasid caliph in Egypt.7 They sent their envoys to Egypt to request help against their common enemy – the Mongols.8 Trade was another important factor that helped sustain relations between Egypt and India. Egypt was the meeting point between East and West, Alexandria being one of the few great harbours of the world at that time.9
The greatest danger to the Mamluk dynasty in its early days was from the Mongols of Transoxania who extended their dominion to Iraq and had attacked Syria several times. It was the Mamluk Sultans who broke their pride of invincibility. Although the Mamluks were sometimes obliged to retreat, Nāṣir gave the Mongol governor such a crushing defeat in 1302 that no Mongol ever again dared to look toward Egypt. In 1304, Uljāitū Khudābanda (1304–16), son of Arghūn (1284–91), succeeded Ghāzān (1295–1304); he established diplomatic relations with Nāṣir but earned his enmity when he tried to enlist the help of European kings against him. His successor, Abū Sa‘īd Il-Khan (1316–35), was more trustworthy and to some extent afraid of Nāṣir. He did nothing to oppose the Egyptian Sultan.10
The other Mongol kingdom of that period was that of Chingīz Khān’s dynasty. Their king was the Khan of the ‘Golden Horde’, Altin Ordu, whose rule extended over Siberia and the southern part of Russia. The two Mongol kings were long-standing rivals. The King of the ‘Golden Horde’ offered the hand of friendship to the Sultan of Egypt so that he might be an ally against their enemy of the Hūlāgū dynasty.11
During the Mamluk rule, Armenia was repeatedly attacked by Egyptian troops who captured many Armenian fortresses. The Armenians agreed a compromise on the payment of jizyah to the Egyptian Sultan, but very soon reneged and helped the Mongols against the Sultan. Ultimately, the Armenians were defeated and consented to pay taxes.12
Political relations between the Sultan of Egypt and most of the European kings were good. The court of Nāsịr developed into a place which diplomats and ambassadors from different countries visited frequently with presents and letters from their kings and rulers. The European kings and bishops, disappointed after their crusades, offered Nāṣir friendship, requesting him to treat Christians with generosity and make various concessions to them. Pope John XXII sent a letter to Nāṣir in 1327, asking him to treat the Christians of the East with benevolence and care. Nāṣir agreed to his request.13
A similar letter was sent in the same year by Charles IV (1322–28), the King of France, about the welfare of the Christians residing in his sultanate.14
A treaty was concluded between the Emperor of Constantinople and Sultan Nāṣir to defend their territories from the Ottoman Turks who were an ever-growing menace at that time in Asia Minor.15
In the first years of Mamluk rule, the danger of Christian and Mongol invasion threatened the stability and safety of their kingdom. But after defeating their enemies in many battles, the Mamluks were able to establish a strong kingdom and turn their attention to more constructive tasks.
2. Administration in Egypt and Syria under the Mamluks
The Sultan as head of state was assisted by different Nā’ib al-Salṭanah or viceroys, below whom was the vizier, a traditional post, inherited from the Abbasid caliphate. This post lost its importance in the Mamluk period, the vizier’s duties consisting, for all practical purposes, in executing the orders of the Sultan and his nā’ibs. Indeed, in 1327, Sultan Nāṣir abolished the post, though it was re-established by his successor in 1343.16 Among the high ranking officials, there were a number of governors. Egypt was divided into different provinces and each province was looked after by a wālī or governor (pi. wulāt), the most important such official being the wālī of Cairo. Only Alexandria, due to its strategic importance, was governed by a nā’ib al-salṭanah.17
Syria was divided into seven provinces, namely, Aleppo, Hamah, Damascus, Safad, Kark, Gaza and Tripoli, each with a nā’ib al-salṭanah. The nā’ib of Damascus was so important that he was sometimes called nā’ib al-Shām, i.e. the viceroy of Syria.18
(a) The army
The army had
