Al-Aziz Muhammad ibn Ghazi ( – 26 November 1236) was the Kurdish

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

Emir of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

and the son of

az-Zahir Ghazi Al-Malik az-Zahir Ghiyath ud-din Ghazi ibn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (commonly known as az-Zahir Ghazi; 1172 – 8 October 1216) was the Kurdish Ayyubid emir of Aleppo between 1186 and 1216. He was the third son of Saladin and his lands included northern ...

and grandson of

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

. His mother was Dayfa Khatun, the daughter of Saladin's brother

al-Adil Al-Adil I (, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, ,‎ "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just King, Sword of the Faith"; 1145 – 31 August 1218) was the fourth Sultan of Egypt, Sultan o ...

. Al-Aziz was aged just three when his father az-Zahir Ghazi died in 1216 at the age of forty-five. He immediately inherited his father's position as ruler of Aleppo. A regency council was formed, which appointed Shihab ad-Din Toghrul as his

Atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic language, Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the ti ...

or guardian. Toghril was a ''

mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

'' of az-Zahir Ghazi and the effective ruler of Aleppo for the next fifteen years.

Reign

Al-Aziz did not take actual control of power until the age of seventeen, at which point he retained Toghril as his treasurer. In general, he avoided becoming drawn into the complex disputes between different members of the Ayyubid dynasty, and concentrated instead on strengthening the defenses and infrastructure of Aleppo. Among the construction works begun by az-Zahir Ghazi and completed by al-Aziz Muhammad were the re-fortification of the citadel, and, within it, the building of the palace, the mosque, the arsenal and the water cisterns. Al-Aziz is known to have married Fatima Khatun, daughter of

al-Kamil Al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir ad-Din Muhammad (; – 6 March 1238), titled Abu al-Maali (), was an Egyptian ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade. He was known to the Franki ...

, who apparently shared his passion for building and commissioned the construction of two madrasas in Aleppo. In 1232, shortly after al-Aziz attained his majority, Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt gathered a major force bringing together armies from across the Ayyubid confederation to attack Diyar Bakr. Aleppo was the only emirate which stood aloof and contributed no troops. However, in 1234, Al Aziz did furnish units which he contributed to another army led by al-Kamil which went out to invade Anatolia, probably heading for

Malatya Malatya (; ; Syriac language, Syriac ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of y ...

. Al-Aziz did not himself take part in the campaign, which in any case was driven back by the Seljuq forces of Sultan Ala ad-Din Kayqubad.

Death

Al-Aziz died on 26 November 1236 at the age of twenty-three. His eldest son,

an-Nasir Yusuf An-Nasir Yusuf (; AD 1228–1260), fully al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn al-Aziz ibn al-Zahir ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shazy (), was the Ayyubid Kurdish Emir of Syria from his seat in Aleppo (1236–1260), and the S ...

, was only seven years old, so al-Aziz's mother Dayfa Khatun assumed the regency. Al-Aziz's daughter, Ghaziya Khatun, married the Seljuq Sultan of Rum, Kaykhusraw II.Humphreys,R. S. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193-1260, SUNY Press 1977 p.389

References

{{Ayyubid dynasty 1236 deaths 13th-century Kurdish people 13th-century Ayyubid rulers Ayyubid emirs of Aleppo Medieval child monarchs Year of birth unknown