User:Samsam22

SAMSAM 22 Studied Islamic archeology, Egyptian archeology and history at Cairo University and Anthropology and middle eastern studies in Europe.

Subjectiveness is very important therefore I use sourcebooks as a base and check with other references. I add information not mentioned on other encyclopedias so that Wikipedia be more accurate and informative , and often I add Arabic names of persons and places to confirm spelling in English and to help those who can read Arabic to identify the name easly, as Arabic names are written in different ways in English. Names of Sultans can be complicated and confusing - even to historians - that is why names are different in various books and encyclopedias. The reason of that is that names of the sultans increased in size with their carriers. That is why I quoted orginal names and royal names of the Sultans.

Were the Mamluks slaves ? No, they were Mamluks. Slaves have other names in Arabic, like Abd and Abid, and did other things, like digging canals, ploughing fields or serving at the homes. During Mamluk era there were Mamluks and slaves in Egypt. Two differnt things. In addition to all the financial privileges, Mamluks received Salaries which were called Jamkiya ( جامكية ) . The children and grandchildren of the early Mamluk Sultans ( e.g. children of Baibars, Qalawun, Al-Nasir muhammad and later Barquq ) were owned by nobody. Slavery system as practiced by the west does not apply on Mamluks.

Were the Sultans Mamluks before becoming Sultans ? No. They were not Mamluks but Emirs. That is to say they were freemen, manumitted and granted the rank of Emir. Aybak, Qutuz, Baibars and Qalawun were purchased as Mamluks by the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub. Before his death, he mamumitted them and granted them the rank of Emir. Their children ( al-Mansur Ali, Barakah, solamish, Khalil, al-Nasir Muhammad and his sons and grandsones ) of course never have been purchased as Mamluks and were born free. A Mamluk could not buy or own Mamluks but an Emir could.

Were the Mamluks Turks, Circassians or Egyptians ? They, in particular their children who were born in Egypt, were Egyptanized , something like the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt earlier and the dynasty of Muhamad Ali that ruled Egypt later. They spoke Egyptian, shared Egyptian religion, customs and language. Egypt was their home they had no other places to go to.

If the Mamluks were only a few hundreds or thousands how could they defeat large armies like the crusaders and the Mongols ? They had large numbers of local volunteers. In wartimes Sultans declared the so-called Al-Nafir Al-Am ( General Emergency ). Upon declaring Al-Nafir Al-Am commons and local population joined the army like during the Seven Crusade, the Battle of Ain Jalut and the Conquest of Acre.

Why the Mamluks installed sometimes young children as Sultans ? They were mostly sons of a dethroned or a deceased Sultan. Mamluks did not have inheritance system. The children were installed temporarily till matters were setteled then the actual ruler tookover after feeling secure. Mostly the actual ruler was the cosultan or the vice-Sultan. Examples : Aybak/al-Ahraf Musa , Qalawun/Solamish , Qutuz/al-Mansur Ali.

Why the Sultans had such long names ? Names of the Sultans contained personal name like Baibars , Qalawun, Aybak. Names obtained before becoming a Sultan like Rukn al-Din ( pillar of faith ). Titles obtained after becoming a Sultan like al-Muazzam ( The Glorified ) or al-Zahir ( The Apparent or The Prevailer ). Titles of Posts held before becoming a Sultan like al-Jashnakir ( Taster of Sultans food and drinks ). Sometimes ethnical identity added as a title like Aybak al-Turkumani ( The Turkmen ) or Kutbugha al-Mughli ( The Mongol ) . Titles of Loyality to a former Sultan like al-Salihi ( relating and belonging to as-salih Ayyub ) ( al-Zahiri : relating and belonging to al-Zahir Baibars ) ( al- Mansuri : relating and belonging to al-Mansur Qalawun ) ( al-Mu'izi or al- Ezzizi relating and and belonging to al-Mu'iz izz ad-Din Aybak ). or to a former owner or Emir like al-Bunduqdari ( belonged to Emir A'la al-Din al-Bunduqdar ). Examples : (al-Malik al-Muzaffar Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Jashnakir al-Mansuri ) ( al-Malik al-Mu'izz Izz al-Din Aybak al-Jashnakir al-Turkmani al-Salihi )

Why the Sultans' names always started by the titel Al-Malik ? Al-Malik which means The King was the most important part of the Sultanic titles. He had the function of a Sultan but he was the King. One could not do the job of a Sultan if he was not named the King. I declined a suggestion to write the royal name without the title al-Malik for this reason.

Why sometimes al-Din and sometimes ad-Din ? Both are correct. Actually its al-Din but because it is in Arabic pronounced ( not written ) ad-Din, western writers often use ad-Din : Hossam ad-Din = Hossam al-Din , Rukn ad-Din = Rukn al-Din , Saif ad-Din = saif al-Din. Both correct.

Saracens, Worshippers of the cross, Turks, Franks, Crusaders, Frinja the term Saracens was used by European crusaders in referring to Muslims. It is an out of date term which belongs to European Dark Ages and old way of thinking of specifying others. Muslims called the crusaders " worshippers of the cross" ( Abadat al-Salib ). It is not proper to use such terms in writing in modern times. Muslims were also called "Turks" by the Crusaders which is also not correct and should not be used in modern writing. Saracens, Turks and such terms are broad and do not specify. As for the term "Crusaders" ( Arabic: Al-Salibiyoon ), During the crusade era Muslims did not use the word Crusaders but used the word "Frinja" which means Franks.

Unfortunately, many information about the Mamluks on internet are not very accurate and sometimes wrong as mistakes are copied from site to site.

The articles about the Mamluk Sultans written by me are connected to each others. Starting from Shajar al-Durr, passing through the Battle of Al Mansurah , the Battle of Fariskur and Sirat al-Zahir Baibars, and ending by Shihab ad-Din Ahmad ( Last Mamluk Sultan I wrote about ) gives an idea about the Mamluks and their systems. When writing about a sultan I add some information about the social and political situation during his era. As Arabic sourcebooks are huge and hard to find I try to quote from it as much as possible that it might be helpful for the readers who are in search for orginal information.

I like to thank all my friends on Wikipedea for their assistance.

I added some important Mamluk office titles and terminologies at the bottom of the Mamluk article.

In addition to correcting names of Mamluk sultans like Shajar al-Durr and Solamish and for example on the pages of Bahri dynasty , Mamluk and Mamluk era on Rulers of Egypt. Some Articles I created or edited :

• al-Muazzam Turanshah
• Shajar al-Durr
• Aybak
• al-Mansur Ali
• Qutuz
• al-Said Barakah
• Solamish
• al-Ashraf Khalil
• Al-Adil Kitbugha
• Lajin
• Al-Nasir Muhammad
• Baibars II ( Baibars al-Jashnakir )
• Saif ad-Din Abu-Bakr
• Kujuk
• Shihab ad-Din Ahmad
• an-Nasir Yusuf
• Battle of Al Mansurah
• Battle of Fariskur
• Sirat al-Zahir Baibars

• The biography of of Sultan Shihab ad-Din Ahmad was my last biography of Mamluk sultans. I will resume only on request. The names of Mamluk Sultans who have no articles can be found here : Mamluk Samsam22 (talk) 19:37, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

This user is a member of the Crusades task force.

This user is a member of the Early Muslim military history task force of the Military history WikiProject.|}