Al-Nasir Ahmad, Sultan of Egypt

, where Ahmad was based for much of his life Ahmad was born in 1316 or 1318. His father was Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and his mother was Bayad, a singer and a slave girl freed by Emir Bahadur As and possibly given to al-Nasir Muhammad. He was sent again in April 1326. Nothing about Ahmad in the Mamluk-era sources is known between 1326 and 1331. Ahmad returned to al-Karak with his wife, who had been growing increasingly ill. Relationship with Shuhayb Zumurrudi reported back to al-Nasir Muhammad that Ahmad was behaving poorly, dressing as a Bedouin and was spending much of his time drinking with a Bedouin boy, Shuhayb, whom Ahmad had fallen in love with. As a consequence for his behavior, Ahmad was ordered by al-Nasir Muhammad to return to Cairo with Shuhayb in March 1339. Ahmad was received without fanfare and Shuhayb was jailed. Ahmad also refused an offer from his father that would have transferred one hundred of al-Nasir Muhammad's mamluks to Ahmad's service in return for Ahmad's abandonment of Shuhayb. Al-Nasir Muhammad ultimately relented and abandoned hopes that Ahmad could succeed him as sultan. Instead, he released Shuhayb and made Ahmad an emir of forty mounted mamluks (the second highest Mamluk military rank). Ahmad was also made to stay in Egypt, while Abu Bakr was sent to al-Karak, likely replacing Ahmad as governor of the province. In 1341, Shuhayb and a eunuch entered into a dispute related to a pigeon racing competition, in which the eunuch mistreated Shuhayb. In response, Ahmad had the eunuch severely beaten, and when news of the incident reached al-Nasir Muhammad, the latter attempted to force Ahmad to banish Shuhayb, again sending emirs Qawsun and Bashtak to communicate his demands to Ahmad. Ahmad refused, stating to Qawsun and Bashtak that while they each had a hundred young boys and girls, he had "contented" himself "with regard to worldly pleasures with only this boy because he has shared my exile, having left his family. How can I expel him? If the sultan commands that I do so, then let him expel me too". Ahmad was indeed expelled to Sarkhad, accompanied by Maliktamur. However, upon the intervention of some of al-Nasir Muhammad's emirs, wives and his harem, al-Nasir Muhammad decided to have Ahmad return to Cairo while Ahmad was still on his way to Sarkhad, although he first sold all of Ahmad's horses. Al-Nasir Muhammad also ultimately decided to send Ahmad back to al-Karak with Maliktamur, who was also reappointed governor of Mamlakat al-Karak. ==Conflict over the sultanate==

Al-Nasir Muhammad died in June 1341. His reign was marked by a centralization of autocratic power in the Mamluk Sultanate. Shortly before his death, al-Nasir Muhammad discussed his succession with his two senior emirs, Qawsun and Bashtak. Following al-Nasir Muhammad's death, In May or June 1341, Abu Bakr was proclaimed sultan, but was virtually a ceremonial ruler, with Qawsun holding the reins of power as mudabbir al-dawla (organizer of the state), in effect the strongman of Egypt. He responded in September 1341 that he would not report to Cairo unless the leading emirs of the sultanate appeared before him in al-Karak and gave him their oaths of loyalty and on the condition that his other brothers imprisoned in Qus would be relocated to al-Karak. From then on, Ahmad gained the honorific prefix of al-Nasir, like his father. As Altunbugha left Damascus to lead an expedition against Tashtamur, pursuing the latter to southeastern Anatolia, Qutlubugha moved into Damascus where he proclaimed al-Nasir Ahmad sultan and began to reorganize the bureaucracy with the support of Damascene emirs opposed to Altunbugha. ==Reign==

Qawsun's position in Egypt was precarious and he was ultimately arrested, along with Altunbugha, in Alexandria. Afterward, a delegation of Egypt-based emirs, namely Jankali ibn Baba, Baybars al-Ahmadi and Qimari Amir Shikar, arrived in al-Karak to inform al-Nasir Ahmad of Qawsun's ouster and to invite him to Cairo to assume the sultanate, to which al-Nasir Ahmad refused. On 21 January 1342, al-Ashraf Kujuk was dethroned and al-Nasir Ahmad declared sultan despite the latter's absence from Cairo. In Bedouin attire, he affirmed his title and declared "I was not yearning for royalty, and found that place [al-Karak] adequate. However, Tashtamur's arbitrary conduct in office and his selective approach to al-Nasir Ahmad's orders turned the latter against him, and with support from the leading Mamluk emirs who were also frustrated with Tashtamur, al-Nasir Ahmad had Tashtamur imprisoned in May 1342. In addition, al-Nasir Ahmad ordered Qutlubugha to be confined to Damascus, while Mamluk emirs in Egypt sought to eliminate Qutlubugha. The latter was able to leave Egypt unharmed, but before reaching Beisan from Jenin, he was arrested by the governor of Safad, Baybars al-Ahmadi, who extradited him to Egypt. By the end of May, al-Nasir Ahmad decided to rule the sultanate from al-Karak, the only place he felt secure from Mamluk plots, real or perceived. He departed with large sums from the sultan's treasury, huge numbers of al-Nasir Muhammad's Arabian horses and livestock, and was accompanied by the arrested emirs, Tashtamur and Qutlubugha, along with Karaki supporters, the muhtasib (chief market inspector) of Cairo and the chief scribe. He also sought to relocate Caliph al-Hakim II to al-Karak, and managed to install him in Gaza, ostensibly as an interim headquarters. Al-Nasir Ahmad reached al-Karak relatively quickly (in six days). He had left Cairo in the care of his newly appointed deputy, the governor of Gaza, Aqsunqur al-Salari. From al-Karak, al-Nasir Ahmad issued decrees that reached Cairo through a mediator from al-Karak; al-Nasir Ahmad rarely communicated directly with the Mamluks of Egypt, preferring to use mediators instead. According to al-Maqrizi, Ahmad's "most important confidant among the people of al-Karak" was Baligh ibn Yusuf ibn Tayyi, the commander of Arab forces in the fortress. He was repeatedly asked to return to Cairo by the Mamluks of Egypt, but refused each time. ==Deposition and death==

In Cairo, the senior Mamluk emirs resolved to depose al-Nasir Ahmad and replace him with his half-brother al-Salih Isma'il in June 1342. The decision was supported by the governors of the Syrian provinces, who defected from al-Nasir Ahmad after learning of the executions of Tashtamur and Qutlubugha and reports of al-Nasir Ahmad's decadent behavior in al-Karak. Despite being dethroned and not having apparent ambitions outside of al-Karak, al-Nasir Ahmad was still viewed as a threat by the sultan; al-Nasir Muhammad had been exiled in al-Karak when he marched to Cairo and seized the throne. Seven expeditions against al-Nasir Ahmad were launched between his deposition and 1344. Each siege was aborted. They often lasted for a few months, cost huge sums, and at times, ended with the dismissal of officers. The Mamluks had difficulty gaining the key support of the local Bedouin tribes, who were allies of al-Nasir Ahmad. The local defectors informed besieging Mamluks of a vulnerability in al-Karak's defenses. entered the fortress and captured al-Nasir Ahmad, who had been wounded and was treated with respect by his captors. Still suspicious of his Egyptian captors, he refused to eat meals provided by them, only agreeing to eat food handled by his al-Karak partisans. He was sent to Cairo, where al-Salih Isma'il secretly ordered to have him decapitated by a mercenary on 16 July. Al-Nasir Ahmad's head was brought to the Cairo Citadel where it was displayed. His body was buried at the foot of the fortress of al-Karak. ==Legacy==

Al-Nasir Ahmad's four-month reign was judged to be a disappointment by Mamluk-era historians. Ibn Iyas wrote that expectations of al-Nasir Ahmad being a "victorious lion" upon his ascension to the sultanate ended with him receiving the appellation of the "crazy teacher", while Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani wrote that he was "truly a terrible administrator, a hedonist and a drunkard". Ibn Taghribirdi asserted that al-Nasir Ahmad was thoughtless, frivolous and the worst of al-Nasir Muhammad's sons. Al-Maqrizi repeated the alleged warning of al-Nasir Muhammad that al-Nasir Ahmad should never "enter Egypt ... for he will be a ground for the ruin of the monarchy". ==References==