Al-Ashraf Musa
Emir of Damascus
Al-Ashraf I Muzaffar al-Din Musa. AH 607-617 AD 1210-1220. Mayyafariqin mint. Dated AH 612 (AD 1215-6).
Reign1229–1237
PredecessorAn-Nasir Dawud
SuccessorAs-Salih Ismail
Born1178
Died27 August 1237(1237-08-27) (aged 58–59)
DynastyAyyubid
FatherAl-Adil I
ReligionSunni Islam

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

Governor of the Jezireh (1201-1229)

Portrait of Saladin on a dirham minted under Al-Ashraf Musa in 1215-1216, with obverse legend: "The Victorious King, Righteousness of the World and the Faith, Yusuf ibn Ayyub".[1][2][3][4] Probable Mayyafariqin mint, dated 1215.[1] Similar coins were also minted during Saladin's lifetime.[5]

The son of Sultan al-Adil I, al-Ashraf was installed by his father in Harran in 1201 as Governor of the Jezireh. He continued to rule the region after the death of his father in 1218, until 1229.

During his tenure, he minted some coins with the effigy of Saladin 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.[3]

His coinage was minted in Mayyafariqin, Sinjar, Akhlat, Irbil, Harran.[6]

He took the Georgian princess Tamta as one of his wives.[7]

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, for aid in opposing his brother al-Kamil 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 Baalbek as well in 1230. In return, he ceded his lands in Mesopotamia to al-Kamil 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.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Balog (1980). The Coinage of the Ayyubids. London: Royal Numismatic Society. p. Coin 182., also Whelan Type III, 258-60; Album 791.4
  2. ^ For a similar coin at the British Museum minted in AH 586/1190 CE: "Saladin coin British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org., and another one also minted in 1190: . Also [1], [2]
  3. ^ a b Nicolle 2011, p. 26: "This copper dirham, minted at Mayyafariqin in 587 AH (1190/01 AD) shows Saladin wearing the sharbush hat of a Saljuq-style Turkish ruler."
  4. ^ Lesley Baker, Patricia (1988). A History of Islamic Court Dress in the Middle East (PDF). SOAS, London University. p. 119. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00033676. By the end of the 12th century, the wearing of the sharbush demonstrated support for Salah al-Din. Under the later Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and Syria it formed part of the khil'a given to an amir on his investiture.
  5. ^ For a similar coin at the British Museum minted in AH 586/1190 CE: "Saladin coin British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org., and another one also minted in 1190: . Also [3], [4]
  6. ^ "American Numismatic Society: Browse Collection". numismatics.org. American Numismatic Society.
  7. ^ Eastmond, Antony (20 April 2017). Tamta's World. Cambridge University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-107-16756-8. Tamta, Ayyubid Wife of al-Ashraf Musa
  8. ^ Franklin D. Lewis (18 October 2014). Rumi - Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Jal l al-Din Rumi. Oneworld Publications. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-78074-737-8.

Sources

Regnal titles Preceded byAl-Adil I Emir of Harran 1218–1229 Succeeded byAs-Salih Ayyub Preceded byAn-Nasir Dawud Emir of Damascus 1229–1237 Succeeded byAs-Salih Ismail


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