Al-Nasir Muhammad

An-Nasir Muhammad, also known as Ibn Qalawun, was the ninth sultan of Egypt’s Bahri Mamluk dynasty. He ruled in three separate stints: 1293–1294, 1299–1309, and from 1310 until his death in 1341. Born in 1285 at Cairo’s Citadel of the Mountain, he was the third son of Sultan Qalawun and a woman named Ašlūn, daughter of a Mongol notable.

His father, of Turkic Kipchak origin, learned of his son’s birth while besieging Margat on the Levantine coast. Raised in Mongol customs, an-Nasir kept that lifestyle until age 29, when an illness in 1315 prompted him and his followers to shave their heads and abandon their long hair. He married a Turkic slave named Khawand Toghay, whom he freed; she bore him a son, Prince Anuk.

First reign

His first reign began at age eight, after his brother Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil was assassinated in December 1293. Installed as a figurehead, the real power lay with regent Zayn ad-Din Kitbugha and vizier Sanjar al-Shuja‘i, who were rivals. Al-Shuja‘i, backed by the Burji Mamluks, plotted to arrest Kitbugha, but Kitbugha besieged the Citadel, resulting in al-Shuja‘i’s murder and the expulsion of the Burjis. Later, Emir Hussam ad-Din Lajin returned to Cairo, prompting the Burji Mamluks (known as al-Mamalik al-Ashrafiyah Khalil) to riot because Lajin had not been punished for his role in Khalil’s death.

The Ashrafiyah were crushed, with many killed or executed. Lajin then convinced Kitbugha to depose an-Nasir and take the throne himself, warning that the Ashrafiyah and the young sultan would seek revenge for Khalil’s murder—a crime Kitbugha had been involved in. At age ten, an-Nasir and his mother were moved to another palace section and later exiled to al-Karak, ending his first reign.

Second reign

In 1296, Kitbugha was deposed by his own vice-sultan Lajin, who ruled until he and his vice-sultan Mangu-Temur were murdered in 1299 by a group of emirs led by Saif al-Din Kirji. Afterward, the emirs, including Baibars al-Jashnakir, decided to recall an-Nasir from al-Karak and reinstate him, with Emir Taghji as vice-sultan. This was delayed because Kirji and the Ashrafiyah emirs wanted Taghji as sultan and Kirji as vice-sultan. Eventually, an-Nasir, now fourteen, returned to Cairo amid public celebration.

He was reinstalled, but real power rested with Vice-Sultan Sayf al-Din Salar and Ostadar Baibars al-Jashnakir. During this second reign, the Burji Mamluks grew stronger, imposing taxes called “Himayah” on those needing their services. Early on, a Bedouin rebellion in Upper Egypt was brutally crushed by Salar and Baibars, who slaughtered Bedouins and captured their women.

The Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar

News arrived that Ghazan of the Ilkhanate was preparing to attack the Levant with a large army, and about thirty Crusader ships reached Beirut. The emirs sent forces from Egypt to Syria. A storm destroyed the Crusader ships before they could land, and Ghazan altered his plans after a commander named Solamish Ben Afal fled to Egypt seeking help against him. In 1299, an-Nasir led the Egyptian army to Syria to confront Ghazan’s forces.