al-Mamalik al-Bahriyya wa Qada'ihim ala al-Salibiyyin fi al-Sham
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- Islamic University of Madinah
al-Mamalik al-Bahriyya wa Qada'uhim ala al-Salibiyyin fi al-Sham (The Bahri Mamluks and Their Elimination of the Crusaders in the Levant) is a historical treatise by Dr. Shafiq Jaser Ahmad Mahmoud, an associate professor in the Department of History at the Islamic University of Madinah . The study examines the rise of the Bahri Mamluk sultanate and its military campaigns that brought an end to the Crusader presence in the Levant (al-Sham) .
Scope and Background
The work begins by defining the term Mamluk as white slaves acquired by Muslim rulers from various regions and given specialized military and moral upbringing to serve as disciplined warriors . It distinguishes the term from general servants ('abd) and from non-Arab converts (mawali) .
The study traces the emergence of the Bahri Mamluks under the Ayyubid sultan al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub and examines their rise to political dominance in Egypt following the Seventh Crusade led by King Louis IX of France . It highlights the leadership of Shajar al-Durr during the crisis of al-Salih Ayyub's death at al-Mansurah, the battlefield roles of commanders such as Baybars al-Bunduqdari and Faris al-Din Aqtai, and the subsequent overthrow of Sultan Turanshah in 648 AH (1250 CE) .
Military Campaigns Against the Crusaders
The treatise analyzes the geopolitical state of the Levant during the mid-seventh century AH, noting that Crusader holdings had shrunk to a narrow coastal corridor along the Mediterranean—primarily the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the coastal fortress of Acre, which served as the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem after the loss of Jerusalem—while inland cities such as Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo remained firmly under Muslim control .
The author charts the progressive dismantling of these Crusader strongholds across successive Bahri Mamluk reigns:
- Al-Zahir Baybars (r. 658–676 AH / 1260–1277 CE): The revival of the Abbasid Caliphate in Cairo in 659 AH (1260 CE) to secure religious legitimacy, the fortification of frontiers, the development of naval forces, and aggressive campaigns against Crusader territories .
- Al-Mansur Qalawun (r. 679–689 AH / 1280–1290 CE): The continuation of offensive operations, leading to the recapture of Latakia and the conquest of the County of Tripoli in 688 AH .
- Al-Ashraf Khalil ibn Qalawun (r. 689–693 AH / 1290–1293 CE): The final siege and conquest of Acre in 690 AH (1291 CE), followed by the recovery of remaining coastal ports including Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, and Beirut, effectively terminating Crusader territorial control in the Levant .
Sources and Publication
The study draws upon primary historical works from classical Muslim chroniclers, including Ibn al-Athir's al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, Ibn Iyas's Bada'i' al-Zuhur fi Waqa'i' al-Duhur, Baybars al-Mansuri's Zubdat al-Fikrah fi Tarikh al-Hijrah, Ibn Khaldun's Kitab al-'Ibar, and al-Qalqashandi's Subh al-A'sha . It was published as an academic monograph and appeared as a research paper in the journal of the Islamic University of Madinah .
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