Muhammad ibn Shirkuh

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Muhammad ibn Shirkuh
Emir of Homs
Reign1179–1186
PredecessorNone
Successor Al-Mujahid
Bornunknown
Died4 March 1186
Spouse Sitt al-Sham (Saladin's sister)
Dynasty Ayyubid
Religion Sunni Islam

Nasr ad-Din Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Asad ad-Din Shirkuh (sometimes referred to as Nasr ad-Din ibn Shirkuh and al-Malik al-Qahir) [1] was the Kurdish Ayyubid emir of Homs from 1179 to 1186.

Contents

Accession

The Zangid Sultan Nur ad-Din Zengi had given the domain of Homs to Shirkuh in 1164. Five years later, on Shirkuh’s death, Nur ad-Din took the city back, but following his victory at the Horns of Hama in 1175, Saladin gave the domain of Homs to his son Muhammad ibn Shirkuh. [2] He also gave him Palmyra and ar-Rahba. [3] Saladin thought so highly of Muhammad ibn Shirkuh that in 1185 (581) he planned to give him the major strategic domain of Mosul in northern Iraq. However, the campaign to take the city from the Zengids was not successful, and he had to withdraw his forces, so Muhammad ibn Shirkuh received nothing. [4]

Family

Muhammad ibn Shirkuh married a sister of Saladin, who was thus his own first cousin, known as Sitt Ash-Sham (‘The Lady of Syria’, i.e. not her given name). Her full name was Sitt Ash-Sham Zumurrud Khatun bint Najm d-Din Ayyub. When she married Muhammad ibn Shirkuh she was the widow of one of Saladin’s military commanders named Lajin, by whom he had a son named Husan ad-Din Umar b. Lajin. [5] Sitt Ash-Sham was famous for the scale and generosity of her charitable works. [6] It is not clear whether she was or was not the mother of his heir Al-Mujahid, but it is generally assumed that she was not.

Death

Saladin fell ill while laying siege to Mosul in 1185 and was obliged to retreat back into Syria. As he began making arrangements for his succession, Muhammad ibn Shirkuh saw an opportunity to expand his domains. He hurried away to Homs and made arrangements with certain notables in Damascus for them to surrender their city to him in the event of Saladin’s death. [7]

Before any of his plans could be put into effect, however, Muhammad ibn Shirkuh died suddenly in Homs on 4 March 1186 (10 Dhu’l Hijja 581). [5] [1] The cause of his death was apparently excessive drinking. [8] He was succeeded in Homs by his thirteen-year-old son Al Malik Al-Mujahid Asad ad-Din Shirkuh II. [2] Widowed a second time, his wife Sitt ash-Sham outlived him by more than thirty years and died in 1220 (616) in Damascus. [5]

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Al-Ashraf Musa (1229–1263), fully Al-Ashraf Musa ibn al-Mansur Ibrahim ibn Shirkuh, was the last Ayyubid prince (emir) of Homs, a city located in the central region of modern-day Syria. His rule began in June 1246, but was temporarily cut short in 1248 after he was forced to surrender Homs and then given Tall Bashir by his cousin an-Nasir Yusuf, the Emir of Aleppo. For a short period of time during Mongol rule in 1260, al-Ashraf served as Viceroy of Syria, although the position was largely nominal. He helped achieve the Mongols' defeat at the hands of the Egypt-based Mamluks by withdrawing his troops from the Mongol coalition during the Battle of Ain Jalut as part of a secret agreement with the Mamluk sultan Qutuz. Following the Mamluk victory, al-Ashraf was reinstated as Emir of Homs as a Mamluk vassal, but was stripped of his viceroy position. Since he left no heirs, after his death, Homs was incorporated into the Mamluk Sultanate.

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Al-Mansur Nasir al-Din Muhammad was the third Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt, reigning in 1198–1200.

Al-Mansur I Muhammad was the Ayyubid emir of Hama, son of Al Muzaffar Taqi ad-Din Umar and grandson of Nur ad-Din Shahanshah, brother of Saladin and Al-Adil. He ruled from 1191–1219.

Al-Aziz Muhammad ibn Ghazi was the Ayyubid Emir of Aleppo and the son of az-Zahir Ghazi and grandson of Saladin. His mother was Dayfa Khatun, the daughter of Saladin's brother al-Adil.

Al Malik Al-Mujahid Asad ad-Din Shirkuh II was the Ayyubid emir of Homs from 1186–1240. He was the son of An-Nasir Muhammad ibn Shirkuh, grandson of Shirkuh and second cousin of Saladin. His domains also included Palmyra and ar-Rahba. Al Mujahid became emir at the age of thirteen when his father died unexpectedly in Homs on 4 March 1186.

Al-Mansur II Muhammad was the Ayyubid emir of Hama 1244–1284, son of al-Muzaffar II Mahmud and grandson of al-Mansur I Muhammad. He was the great-great grandson of Saladin’s brother Nur ad-Din Shahanshah. His mother was Ghaziya Khatun.

The Battle of the Horns of Hama or Hammah was an Ayyubid victory over the Zengids, which left Saladin in control of Damascus, Baalbek, and Homs. Gökböri commanded the right wing of the Zengid army, which broke Saladin's left flank before being routed by a charge from Saladin's personal guard. Despite around 20,000 men being involved on both sides, Saladin gained a nearly-bloodless victory by the psychological effect of the arrival of his Egyptian reinforcements.

Fatimah Khatun bint Najm ad-Dīn Abu al-Shukr Ayyub ibn Shādhi ibn Marwān, popularly known as Sitt al-Sham, was a second sister of Saladin, probably older than Rabi'a Khatun. She is known for founding Al-Shamiyah al-Kubra Madrasa.

Shams al-Dīn Luʾluʾ al-Amīnī was one of the regents of Aleppo for the Ayyūbid ruler al-Nāṣir Yūsuf and later his chief advisor and the commander-in-chief of his armies. He dominated the government of al-Nāṣir from 1242 until his death.

The Qaymariyya were a Kurdish tribe that formed an important military unit under the late Ayyubids and early Mamluks between the 1240s and 1260s. They played a secondary role in the Khwarazmian invasion of Palestine in 1244 and a leading role in the pro-Ayyubid coup d'état in Damascus in 1250.

References

  1. 1 2 Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary Vol 1, Cosimo Inc. 2010 p.627
  2. 1 2 Runciman S. Hunyadi Z., Laszlovszky J., The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontier of Medieval Latin Christianity, CEU Medievalia, 2001,p.62
  3. Humphreys, R.S. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193-1260, SUNY Press 1977 p.51
  4. Humphreys, R.S. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193-1260, SUNY Press 1977 p.56
  5. 1 2 3 Necipoğlu G. (ed.) Muqarnas: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture vol. XI E>J> Brill, Leiden 1994 p. 47
  6. Frenkel, Miriam & Lev, Yaacov (eds.) Charity and Giving in Monotheistic Religions Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin 2009, p.246
  7. Humphreys, R.S. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193-1260, SUNY Press 1977 p.57
  8. Humphreys, R.S. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193-1260, SUNY Press 1977 p.58