Shams al-Muluk Ismail

Shams al-Muluk Abu'l-Fath Ismail ( Arabic شمس الملوك أبو الفتح إسماعيل, DMG Šams al-Mulūk Abūʾl-Fatḥ Ismāʿīl ; † February 1, 1135 in Damascus ) was an Atabeg of the Burid dynasty of Damascus. His honorary name (laqab) was translated as "Sun of the Kings".

Ismail was the second-born son of Taj al-Muluk Buri , but was able to succeed him in rule over Damascus when Taj al-Muluk Buri died in 1132, presumably because the older son Savindsch had no power of his own after being imprisoned by the Zengids . His rule began urgently. First he took Baalbek Castle from his brother Muhammad , then on December 21, 1132, he recaptured Banyas from the Franks. Then he took up the fight against the Zengids for supremacy in Syria and in July 1133 conquered Hama back. In order to force his enemy Zengi into a two-front war, Ismail allied himself with Caliph al-Mustarschid in March 1134 .

In the summer of 1134 a conspiracy directed against Ismail was uncovered, against which he proceeded with extreme cruelty. Among other things, he had his brother Savindsch walled up alive. Then he wanted to have his mother's lover, who was an old follower of his father, killed, but the latter was able to flee to Palmyra . Ismail is said to have even called on the help of the Zengi to fight his enemies inside, otherwise he intended to cede Damascus to the Christians of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . Before Zengi could actually move into Damascus, Ismail was murdered on February 1, 1135 at the instigation of his mother, who then installed her younger son Mahmud as ruler and defended the city against Zengi.

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• Abū l-Fidāʾ , “A Brief History of Mankind” (al-Mukhtaṣar fī akhbār al-bashar), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux , Vol. 1 (1872), pp. 20-21.
• ʿIzz ad-Dīn Abūʾl-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Athīr , "The Perfect Chronicle" (Al-Kāmil fī ʾt-taʾrīḫ), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux, Vol. 1 (1872), pp. 396-398, 400-404.
• Shams ad-Dīn Abūʾl-Muẓaffar Yūsuf ibn Qızoġly ibn ʿAlī Sibṭ ibn al-Ǧauzi , “Mirror of the times with regard to the history of eminent personalities” (Mirʾāt az-zamān fī taʾrīḫ al-aʿyān), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux, vol. 3 (1884), p. 569.
• Kamāl ad-Dīn ʿUmar ibn Aḥamd ibn al-ʿAdīm , “The cream of milk from the story of Aleppo” (Zubdat al-ṭalab min taʾrīḫ Ḥalab), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux, Vol. 3 (1884), p. 665– 669.
• Kamāl ad-Dīn ʿUmar ibn Aḥamd ibn al-ʿAdīm, “Everything that is desirable about the history of Aleppo” (Buġyat al-ṭalab fī taʾrīḫ Ḥalab), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux, Vol. 3 (1884), pp. 695-696.

predecessor	Office	successor
Taj al-Muluk Buri	Atabeg of Damascus (Burid Dynasty) 1132–1135	Shihab al-Din Mahmud