Al-Nasir Faraj or Nasir-ad-Din Faraj (
Circassian: Фэрадж ан-Насир) (
Urdu;
Arabic;
Persian:
; r. 1399–1412 CE) also Faraj ibn Barquq was born in 1386 and succeeded his father
Sayf-ad-Din Barquq as the second Sultan of the
Burji dynasty The Burji or Circassian Mamluk ( ar, المماليك الشركس) dynasty of Circassian origin, ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517, during the Mamluk Sultanate. The Circassian community in Cairo especially flourished during this time. Political p ...
of the
Mamluk Sultanate of
Egypt in July 1399 with the title ''Al-Nasir''.
He was only thirteen years old when he became Sultan on the sudden death of his father.
His reign was marked by anarchy, pandemonium and chaos with invasions of
Tamerlane (Timur Leng, or Timur Beg Gurkani), including the
sack of Damascus in 1400, incessant rebellions in
Cairo, endless conflicts with the Emirs of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
(with the Sultan and also amongst themselves), along with
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
and
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
which reduced the population of the kingdom to one-third.
In September 1405, Faraj was afraid from the surrounding conspiracies, so he escaped his rule and was replaced briefly by his brother
Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz
Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz ( ar, المنصور عز الدين عبد العزيز بن برقوق; d. 20 September 1406) was the younger brother of An-Nasir Faraj and the son of Barquq. He was briefly a Mamluk sultan of Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مص ...
, then he regained his position in November the same year.
During the end of his reign he became a tyrannical ruler which eventually led him into his seventh and final conflict with the
Syrian
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
Emirs at
Baalbek
Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...
. Defeated in battle he fled to the
Citadel of Damascus.
Unable to escape, he surrendered and on May 23, 1412 he was stabbed to death in his prison cell by a hired assassin.
The Emirs placed on the throne as a temporary measure Caliph
Al-Musta'in Billah.
Faraj was buried in Bab AL-Faradis cemetery in Damascus.
Family
One of his wives was Khawand Fatima, the sister of the Islamic historian
Ibn Taghribirdi
Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin al-Amir Sayf al-Din Taghribirdi ( ar, جمال الدين يوسف بن الأمير سيف الدين تغري بردي), or Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Taghrī-Birdī, or Ibn Taghribirdi (2 February 1411— 5 June 1470; ...
.
After Faraj's death, she married Inal Nauruzi.
One of his concubines was Lâ Aflaha man Zalama. She gave birth to Faraj's son, Ghars ad-Din Khalil.
Another concubine was Thuraiya. She gave birth to Faraj's daughter, Khawand Asiya.
Another daughter of Faraj named Khawand Satita married Sidi Ibrahim, son of Sultan
Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh
Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh ( Circassian: Шеихъ ал-МуIэед) ( ar, المؤيد سيف الدين أبو النصر شيخ المحمودي; 1369 – 13 January 1421) was a Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 6 November 1412 to 13 January 1421.
Fami ...
. She died in 1416.
Another daughter, Khawand Shakra, married Amir Jarbash al-Muhammadi and had a son, Nasir ad-Din Muhammad.
She died in 1482.
See also
*
Siege of Damascus (1400)
*
Khanqah of Faraj ibn Barquq
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir-ad-Din Faraj
1386 births
1412 deaths
Burji sultans
15th-century Mamluk sultans
Circassian Mamluks