al-Mughith Umar (Kerak)

Al-Malik al-Mughith Fath ad-Din 'Umar ( Arabic الملك المغيث فتح الدين عمر, DMG al-Malik al-Muġīṯ Fatḥ ad-Dīn ʿUmar ; † 1263 in Cairo ) was an emir of Kerak . He was a son of the Sultan al-Adil Abu Bakr II from the Ayyubid dynasty .

According to the tradition of Ibn Wasil , Umar was favored as successor by the powerful Mamluk emir Fachr ad-Din Yusuf after the death of Sultan al-Salih Ayyub in November 1249 . Then the court minister Husam ad-Din ordered the capture of Umar in order to pave the way to the throne for Prince al-Mu'azzam Turan Shah instead . Fachr ad-Din Yusuf fell on February 8, 1250 fighting the Crusaders in the Battle of al-Mansura , only a few days later Turan Shah arrived in the city and took control. Umar was brought by him to the remote castle al-Shawbak in Transjordan . After Sultan Turan Shah was assassinated by the Mameluks in May 1250, Umar was released from custody by his jailer, who was also the castle commander of Kerak , and made Prince of Transjordan.

In the following years Umar established a stable rule along the Jordan . He recognized the Mamluk rule in Egypt just as little as the Syrian sultanate of his cousin -Nasir Yusuf . Instead, Umar made his own claim to the throne of Egypt and Syria. In the meantime he granted the Mamluk Baibars and his Bahri regiment exile in Kerak, with whose help he carried out attacks on Egypt in 1257 and 1258, which were unsuccessful. He survived the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1260, while an-Nasir Yusuf fell victim to him. However, only the Mameluks were able to benefit from this, who now also took control of Damascus.

In contrast to his cousins ​​in Homs and Hama , Umar continued to refuse submission to the Mamelukes, even after his former ally Baibars had in the meantime become sultan. In order to assert himself against him, he allied himself with the Mongols . Thereupon Kerak was stormed by Baibars in April 1263 and Umar captured. He was first taken to the Cairo Citadel , but executed soon after.

source

• Ibn Wasil, Mufarrij al-kurub fi akhbar bani Ayyub , BnF Paris, ms. arabe 1703, fol. 93r

literature

• Robert Irwin: The Middle East in the Middle Ages. The early Mamluk Sultanates 1250-1382 . Croom Helm, London et al. 1986, ISBN 0-7099-1308-7 , part 2.

predecessor	Office	successor
an-Nasir Dawud ( Ayyubid Sultanate )	Emir of Kerak (Transjordan) 1250–1263	Baibars ( Mameluke Sultanate )