Al-Ashraf or al-Ashraf Musa or Al-Ashraf Shah Arman (died 27 August 1237), fully Al-Ashraf Musa Abu'l-Fath al-Muzaffar ad-Din, was a Kurdish ruler of the

Ayyubid dynasty The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

Governor of the Jezireh (1201–1229)

The son of Sultan al-Adil I, al-Ashraf was installed by his father in

Harran Harran is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 904 km2, and its population is 96,072 (2022). It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale. ...

in 1201 as Governor of the Jezireh. He continued to rule the region after the death of his father in 1218, until 1229.

Conquest of Khilat

In 1207, the Shah-Arman was taken over by the Ayyubids, who had long coveted

Ahlat Ahlat (; ) is a town in Turkey's Bitlis Province in Eastern Anatolia Region. It is the seat of Ahlat District.Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

challenged Ayyubid rule in the Armenian highlands and led a liberation war for south Armenia. The Georgian army besieged Khlat. In response Ayyubid Sultan al-Adil I assembled and personally led a large army that included the emirs of

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

, and

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) 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 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

as well as contingents from other Ayyubid principalities to support al-Awhad, emir of Jazira. During the siege, Georgian general Ivane Mkhargrdzeli accidentally fell into the hands of the al-Awhad on the outskirts of Ahlat. Using Ivane as a bargaining chip, al-Awhad agreed to release him in return for a thirty year truce with Georgia, thus ending the immediate Georgian threat to the Ayyubids. This brought the struggle for the Armenian lands to a stall, leaving the Lake Van region to the Ayyubids of Damascus. During his tenure, he minted some coins with the effigy of

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

and the legend ''"The Victorious King, Righteousness of the World and the Faith, Yusuf ibn Ayyub"'', following the model of earlier coins from the time of Saladin himself.: "This copper dirham, minted at Mayyafariqin in 587 AH (1190/01 AD) shows Saladin wearing the sharbush hat of a Saljuq-style Turkish ruler." His coinage was minted in Mayyafariqin, Sinjar, Akhlat,

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

. He took the Georgian princess Tamta as one of his wives.

Emir of Damascus (1229–1237)

After his brother al-Mu'azzam's death in 1227, al-Ashraf received a request from his nephew, al-Muazzam's son,

An-Nasir Dawud An-Nasir Dawud (1206–1261) was a Kurdish ruler, briefly (1227–1229) Ayyubid sultan of Damascus and later (1229–1248) Emir of Al-Karak. An-Nasir Dawud was the son of Al-Mu'azzam, the Ayyubid Sultan of Damascus from 1218 to 1227. On his ...

, for aid in opposing his brother

al-Kamil Al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir ad-Din Muhammad (; – 6 March 1238), titled Abu al-Maali (), was an Egyptian ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade. He was known to the Franki ...

of Egypt. Instead, al-Ashraf and al-Kamil came to an agreement to divide their nephew's lands between them. Al-Ashraf captured Damascus in June 1229 and took control of the city, serving as emir of Damascus until his death in 1237. He took

as well in 1230. In return, he ceded his lands in Mesopotamia to

and acknowledged his supremacy, while an-Nasir had to be satisfied with the possession of a principality centered on Kerak in the Transjordan region. A number of years later, al-Ashraf began to chafe under his brother's authority, and in 1237 allied himself with Kayqubad I, the Seljuk Sultan of Rûm, and various Ayyubid princelings based in Syria, against al-Kamil. However, Kayqubad died early in the summer of that year, and al-Ashraf himself died on 27 August, breaking up the alliance. Al-Ashraf was succeeded in Damascus by his younger brother, as-Salih Ismail.

References

Sources

* 1237 deaths Muslims of the Fifth Crusade 13th-century Kurdish people 13th-century Ayyubid rulers Ayyubid emirs of Damascus Year of birth unknown {{Asia-royal-stub

Governor of the Jezireh (1201–1229)

Conquest of Khilat

Emir of Damascus (1229–1237)

See also

References

Sources