Al-Malik Al-Aziz Uthman ibn Salah Ad-Din Yusuf (1171 – 29 November 1198) was the second Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt. He was the second son of

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

. Before his death, Saladin had divided his dominions amongst his kin: Al-Afdal received Palestine and Syria, al-Aziz was made ruler of Egypt,

Al-Zahir Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Nāsir ( ar, أبو نصر محمد بن الناصر; 1175 – 11 July 1226), better known with his regnal name al-Zāhir bi-Amr Allāh ( ar, الظاهر بأمر الله, , He Who Appears Openly by the Order of God) ...

received Aleppo,

Al-Adil I Al-Adil I ( ar, العادل, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, ar, الملك العادل سيف الدين أبو بكر بن أيوب,‎ "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just ...

received Karak and

Shawbak Montreal ( ar, مونتريال; la, Mons Regalis, Mont Real), or Qal'at ash-Shawbak (قلعة الشوبك) in Arabic, is a castle built by the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Crusaders and expanded by the Mamluk Egypt, Mamluks, on the eastern side of t ...

, and

Turan-Shah Shams ad-Din Turanshah ibn Ayyub al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Shams ad-Dawla Fakhr ad-Din known simply as Turanshah ( ar, توران شاه بن أيوب) (died 27 June 1180) was the Ayyubid emir (prince) of Yemen (1174–1176), Damascus (1176–1179), ...

retained

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. However, conflict soon broke out between them with Al-Adil becoming the undisputed ruler of Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Yemen. Despite Al-Aziz having specifically inherited suzerainty over the whole Ayyubid empire, soon he had to face revolts by the

Zengid The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli ...

emirs of

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

and by the

Artuqid The Artuqid dynasty (alternatively Artukid, Ortoqid, or Ortokid; , pl. ; ; ) was a Turkoman dynasty originated from tribe that ruled in eastern Anatolia, Northern Syria and Northern Iraq in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. The Art ...

s in southern Iraq. When Al-Afdal expelled all the ministers left by his father to support him, they came to Egypt, asking Al-Aziz to reconquer Syria. In 1194, Al-Aziz besieged Damascus. Al-Afdal asked for help from Saladin's brother, Al-Adil I, who met Al-Aziz and managed to bring about a reconciliation. The following year Al-Aziz again attacked Syria, but Al-Afdal was able to persuade some of the Emirs of Al-Aziz's army to desert. Later Al-Adil allied with al-Aziz against Al-Afdal, who was besieged and captured in Damascus on 3 July 1196. Al-Afdal was exiled to

Salkhad Salkhad ( ar, صَلْخَد, Ṣalḫad) is a Syrian city in the As-Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It has a population of 15,000 inhabitants. It is located ...

, while Al-Aziz was proclaimed supreme overlord of the Ayyubid Empire. However, most of the effective power was in the hands of Al-Adil I, who installed himself in Damascus. During his reign, Al-Aziz tried to demolish the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, but had to give up because the task was too big. However, he did succeed in damaging

Menkaure's Pyramid The pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex, located on the Giza Plateau in the southwestern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. It is thought to have been built to serve as the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty ...

. Al-Aziz also played an important role in the history of the building enterprises and construction at

Banias Banias or Banyas ( ar, بانياس الحولة; he, בניאס, label=Modern Hebrew; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.; grc, Πανεάς) is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek g ...

and Subaybah. He died in a hunting accident in late 1198. He was interred in the tomb of his elder brother Al-Mu'azzam.Humphreys, R. Stephen. ''From Saladin to the Mongols: the Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193-1260''. Albany: State University of New York, 1977. Print.

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