| Shams ad-Din Turanshah | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Malik al-Mu'azzam | |||||
_-_Oman_Dhufar_museum2.jpg) Turan Shah Dinar Aden | |||||
| Emir ofAlexandria | |||||
| Reign | 1180 | ||||
| Emir ofBaalbek | |||||
| Reign | 1178–1179 | ||||
| Predecessor | Ibn al-Muqaddam | ||||
| Successor | Farrukh Shah | ||||
| Emir ofYemen | |||||
| Reign | 1174–1176 | ||||
| Predecessor | Emirate established | ||||
| Successor | Tughtakin ibn Ayyub | ||||
| Died | 27 June 1180 Alexandria,Egypt | ||||
| Burial | Damascus, Syria | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Ayyubid | ||||
| Father | Najm ad-Din Ayyub | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
Shams ad-Din Turanshah ibn Ayyub al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Shams ad-Dawla Fakhr ad-Din known simply asTuranshah (Arabic:توران شاه بن أيوب) (died 27 June 1180) was theAyyubid emir (prince) ofYemen (1174–1176),Damascus (1176–1179),Baalbek (1178–1179) and finallyAlexandria where he died in 1180. He is noted for strengthening the position of his younger brother, SultanSaladin, inEgypt and playing the leading role in the Ayyubid conquests of bothNubia and Yemen.
Saladin was vizier to theFatimid caliphal-Adid. In 1171,Nur al-Din Zengi, theZengid Sultan ofSyria, allowed Turanshah to travel to Egypt to join his brother, at a time of rising tensions between Nur al-Din and Saladin. Nur al-Din empowered Turanshah to supervise Saladin, hoping to provoke dissension between the brothers.[1] However, this attempt failed as Turanshah was immediately granted an immense amount of land by Saladin who was in the process of rebuilding the power structure of theFatimid state around himself and his relatives. Theiqta' or "fief" given to Turanshah comprised the major cities ofQus andAswan inUpper Egypt as well as theRed Sea port ofAidab.[2] Turanshah was the main force behind the suppression of arevolt staged in 1169 by the Black African garrisons of the Fatimid army. Turanshah attempted to restructure the Egyptian army so that its top positions composed only of ethnicKurds.[1]
Turanshah developed a close relationship with the poet courtierUmara al-Yamani, who had been a power player in Fatimid politics before Saladin's ascendancy to the vizierate in 1169.[3] On September 11, 1171, the last Fatimid caliphal-Adid died and the Ayyubid dynasty gained official control of Egypt. A number of accusations of murder against Turanshah arose following the caliph's death. According to a eunuch in the service of al-Adid's widow, al-Adid died after hearing that Turanshah was in the palace looking for him. In another version, Turanshah is said to have killed al-Adid himself after the latter refused to reveal the location of state treasures that were hidden in the palace.[4] After the caliph's death, Turanshah settled inCairo in a quarter formerly occupied by Fatimidemirs.[5]
The Nubians and Egyptians had long been engaged in a series of skirmishes along the border region of the two countries inUpper Egypt. After the Fatimids were deposed, tensions rose as Nubian raids against Egyptian border towns grew bolder ultimately leading to the siege of the valuable city of Aswan by former Black Fatimid soldiers in late 1172-early 1173. The governor of Aswan,Kanz al-Dawla, a former Fatimid loyalist, requested help from Saladin.
Saladin dispatched Turanshah with a force ofKurdish troops to relieveAswan, but the Nubian soldiers had already departed. Nonetheless, Turanshah conquered the Nubian town ofIbrim and began to conduct a series of raids against the Nubians. His attacks appear to have been highly successful, resulting in the Nubian king based inDongola, requesting an armistice with Turanshah. Apparently eager for conquest, he was unwilling to accept the offer until his own emissary had visited the King of Nubia and reported that the entire country was poor and not worth occupying. Although the Ayyubids would be forced to take future actions against the Nubians, Turanshah set his sights on more lucrative territories.[6] He managed to acquire considerable wealth in Egypt after his campaign against Nubia, bringing back with him many Nubian andChristian slaves.[7]
Following his success in Nubia, Turanshah still sought to establish a personal holding for himself while Saladin was facing an ever-increasing amount of pressure from Nur ad-Din who seemed to be attempting invading Egypt.Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Saladin's aide, suggested that there was a heretical leader in Yemen who was claiming to be themessiah, and that this was the principal reason that Saladin dispatched Turanshah to conquer the region. While this is likely, it also appears 'Umara had considerable influence on Turanshah's desire to conquer Yemen and may have been the one who pushed him to gain Saladin's approval to use such a large part of the military forces in Egypt when the showdown with Nur al-Din seemed to be so near. Turanshah's departure from Egypt did not bode well for his adviser, 'Umara, however, as the poet found himself caught up in analleged conspiracy against Saladin and was executed.[3]
Turanshah set out in 1174 and quickly conquered the town ofZabid in May and the strategic port city ofAden (a crucial link in trade withIndia, theMiddle East, andNorth Africa) later that year. In 1175, he drove out theHamdanid sultan, Ali ibn Hatim, fromSana'a after the latter's army was weakened by continuous raids from theZaidi tribes ofSa'dah.[7] Turanshah then devoted much of his time to securing the whole of southern Yemen and bringing it firmly under the control of the Ayyubids. Although al-Wahid managed to escape Yemen through its northern highlands, Yasir, the head of theShia Banu Karam tribe that had ruled Aden was arrested and executed on Turanshah's orders. TheMahdid rulers of Zabid shared the same fate. Turanshah's conquest held great significance for Yemen which was previously divided into three states (Sana'a, Zabid, and Aden) and was united by the Ayyubid occupation.[7]
Although Turanshah had succeeded in acquiring his own territory in Yemen, he had clearly done so at the expense of his power inCairo. Saladin rewarded him rich estates in Yemen as his personal property. Turanshah did not feel comfortable in Yemen however, and repeatedly asked his brother to transfer him. In 1176, he obtained a transfer toSyria which he governed fromDamascus.[7] He also receivedhis father's old fief aroundBaalbek in 1178.[8] Upon leaving Yemen, the administrator of his estates there was unable to promptly transfer the revenue from his properties to Turanshah. Instead, he left Turanshah behind roughly 200,000dinars in debt, but this was paid off by Saladin. In 1179, he was transferred to governAlexandria and died soon after on June 27, 1180. His body was taken by his sisterSitt al-Sham Zumurrud to be buried beside amadrasa built by her in Damascus.[7]