Sayf al-Din Inal

Sayf al-Din Inal was born in Cairo in 1381 to a Circassian merchant father. He was originally bought by trader Ala' al-Din, who gave him the nisbah "al-Ala'i." Inal continued to rise through the military's ranks, distinguishing himself as a commander, according to historian Moshe Sharon. In 142,7 Barsbay promoted Inal to "emir of forty." Inal had the minaret of the Kateb al-Welaya Mosque restored on 30 July 1432. Later in 1432, he took part in the Mamluk campaign against the Aq Qoyunlu confederation of Amid (Diyarbakir) alongside Sultan Barsbay. Inal was appointed to the high-ranking post of dawadar kabir ("grand executive secretary") and became a member of the ruling council. In 1445, Sultan Jaqmaq made him atabik al-asakir ("commander-in-chief of the armies.") On 2 July 1450, Inal, Jaqmaq, and Tamam bin Abd al-Raziq, the emir al-majlis ("Commander of the Council"), were encircled by the julban on their way to the citadel. The julban demanded the release of ten mamluks recently dismissed upon Tanam's orders. Inal managed to appease them, promising the release of the mamluk prisoners. Before reaching the citadel, they came across Zayn al-Din Yahya, the ustadar ("major-domo") and a leading figure of the julban, and beat him with their cudgels, forcing him to flee. The detained mamluks were freed the following day. ==Reign==

Ascension to the sultanate Jaqmaq abdicated the sultanate in 1453 in favor of his 18-year-old son, al-Mansur Uthman, and died later that year. Under pressure from powerful mamluks who refused to recognize Uthman's authority, Despite having a much larger force, most of Uthman's Zahiri mamluks abandoned their support for him by 16 March when the Caliph al-Qa'im and the top qadis ("judges") passed a resolution stripping Uthman of his executive authority. Inal, at age 73, was thereby proclaimed sultan and entered the citadel later that week, capturing Uthman. On 9 April Inal had Uthman imprisoned in Alexandria. known as the julban or ajlab. The julban were responsible for mass disturbances throughout the sultanate. While Inal and his close circle of officials were notably less tyrannical and brutal than their predecessors, Afterward, Inal sent disciplinary officers to assuage the mamluks' concerns, but to no avail. The mamluks proceeded to raid Yunus's house, but were unsuccessful and returned to the horse market. There, Inal sent a herald to offer the mamluks amnesty and their wounded compensation, but they refused and severely beat the herald. After the mamluks blocked the street to the citadel preventing the royal emirs from leaving. Inal dispatched four emirs to negotiate with the mamluks, but they were taken hostage until their demands were met. The mutiny convinced Caliph al-Qa'im to abandon his support for Inal and join the uprising. With the caliph providing symbolic legitimacy to the mamluks, they took up arms and assaulted the citadel. Finding himself faced with no alternatives, Inal launched an offensive against the mutineers. Worshipers, including women, were harassed at the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As. In one incident the sultan himself was chased and attacked with stones, forcing him to briefly flee into the citadel's harem. In June 1457, Inal sent an expeditionary force to retake Tarsus and Adana from the Karamanids of central Anatolia. The naval fleet, which carried 650 mamluks from the Royal Guard, was launched on 5 August 1460. On a visit to the important Bulaq port along the banks of the Nile River on 28 March 1458, Inal was repulsed at the scene of its crowded and dilapidated buildings and structures. The next day, he issued a decree banning construction in Bulaq and the adjacent Arwa Island, due to the narrowness of the roads there. While the royal council voiced opposition to Inal's moves, Ibn Taghribirdi asserted that it would ease the public's access to the port and that the rights of some individuals should not infringe on the rights of others. Inal was reported to be ill on 3 February 1461. should succeed him. On 26 February, Inal died at the age of 80 after a reign of seven years and eleven months. ==References==