as-Salih Ismail (Mamluks)

Al-Malik as-Salih Imad ad-Din Ismail ibn Muhammad ( Arabic الملك الصالح عماد الدين إسماعيل بن محمد, DMG al-Malik aṣ-Ṣāliḥ ʿImād ad-Dīn ʾIsmāʿīl b. Muḥammad ; * 1325 ; † 1345 in Cairo ) was Sultan of the Mamluks in Egypt from 1342 to 1345 .

After Sultan an-Nasir Ahmad was deposed , his seventeen-year-old half-brother Ismail was raised by the emirs to sultan in June 1342 and assumed the royal title of "al-Malik as-Salih". In a mutual oath, the emirs assured him of their loyalty, while he promised not to "lock them up or harm" them. These oaths were broken repeatedly - for the first time the following year, when the “ Naib as-Saltana” (the vice-rgent) Aqsunqur as-Sallari was deposed. This supposedly happened because as-Sallari had administered his office too leniently. It is more likely, however, that he simply had to make room for the Sultan's stepfather, Arghun al-Alai. Nevertheless, Sultan al-Salih Ismail seems to have paid more attention than his predecessors to a good understanding with his emirs. During his relatively short reign, not a single one of them died under torture.

Similar to his father, as-Salih combined pronounced piety and severity with extravagance and a pronounced affection for women. He was used to riding out of his harem with an entourage of 200 women dressed in valuable silk fabrics . One of his greatest pleasures was forming teams among them to play polo against each other . While the harem women (as well as the eunuchs ) generally increased their influence on political decisions in the 1340s and 1350s, one of them in particular with the name Ittifaq was a veritable “ Lola Montez of her time”. Ittifaq began her career as a black concubine and singer of Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad . She then married three sultans one after the other (as-Salih Ismail, al-Kamil Shaban I and al-Muzaffar Hajji I ), a Mamluk vizier and finally a descendant of the Moroccan Merinids . The chief eunuch also became more influential than ever during al-Salih's reign: Anbar al-Sahrati had been the tutor of the young Ismail and soon used his influence to represent the interests of the court eunuchs in general, especially his own. He acquired eunuchs, mamluks and lucrative offices.

A major problem for as-Salih's rule was a chronic lack of money. After he came to power, the sultan had to generously give away offices and benefices in order to secure his rule. In addition, his half-brother and predecessor an-Nasir Ahmad had taken most of the treasury of their common father an-Nasir Muhammad into exile in Kerak . No less than eight campaigns were necessary before Kerak was conquered in 1344 and Ahmad was executed. When a Venetian embassy arrived in Egypt in the same year , the sultan, who was always in dire financial straits, was particularly helpful. The Venetians received new trade privileges in 1345 that went beyond those of the previous treaty of 1302. Starting in 1345, about 10 galleys reached Alexandria each year to purchase expensive spices.

In the summer of 1345 Sultan al-Salih Ismail fell ill. He died in August of the same year, not even twenty years old, after he had appointed his brother Shaban as his successor.

literature

• Robert Irwin : The Middle East in the Middle Ages. The Early Mamluk Sultanates 1250-1382. ACLS History E Book Project, New York NY 2008, ISBN 978-1-59740-466-2 , pp. 129-133.

predecessor	Office	successor
an-Nasir Ahmad I.	Sultan of Egypt ( Bahri dynasty ) 1342–1345	al-Kamil Shaban I.