Al-Nasir Faraj or Nasir-ad-Din Faraj (; ) also Faraj ibn Barquq was born in 1386 and succeeded his father Sayf-ad-Din Barquq as the second Sultan of the

Burji dynasty The Burji Mamluks () or Circassian Mamluks (), sometimes referred to as the Burji dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1382 until 1517. As with the preceding Bahri Mamluks, the members of the Burji Mamluk ruling class we ...

of the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in July 1399 with the title ''Al-Nasir''. He was only thirteen years old when he became Sultan on the sudden death of his father. His reign was marked by anarchy, pandemonium and chaos with the Timurid invasions of

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

(Timur Leng, or Timur Beg Gurkani), including the sack of Aleppo and the sack of Damascus in 1400, incessant rebellions in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, endless conflicts with the Emirs of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

(with the Sultan and also amongst themselves), along with plague and

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

which reduced the population of the kingdom to one-third. In September 1405, Faraj was afraid of the surrounding conspiracies, so he escaped his reign after emir Saad al-Din bin Ghurab convinced him and was replaced briefly by his brother Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz, then he regained his position in November the same year by Saad al-Din. During the end of his reign he became a tyrannical ruler which eventually led him into his seventh and final conflict with the Emirs at

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

. Defeated in battle, he fled to the

Citadel of Damascus The Citadel of Damascus () is a large medieval fortified palace and citadel in Damascus, Syria. It is part of the Old city of Damascus, Ancient City of Damascus, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The location of the curr ...

. Unable to escape, he surrendered and on May 23, 1412 he was stabbed to death in his prison cell by a hired assassin. The Emirs placed on the throne as a temporary measure Caliph Al-Musta'in Billah. Faraj was buried in Bab al-Faradis cemetery in Damascus.

Family

One of his wives was Khawand Fatima, the sister of the Islamic historian

Ibn Taghribirdi Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin al-Amir Sayf al-Din Taghribirdi (), or Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Taghrī-Birdī, or Ibn Taghribirdi (2 February 1411— 5 June 1470; 813–874 Islamic calendar, Hijri) was an Islamic historian born in the 15th century i ...

. After Faraj's death, she married Inal Nauruzi. One of his concubines was Lâ Aflaha man Zalama. She gave birth to Faraj's son, Ghars ad-Din Khalil. Another concubine was Thuraiya. She gave birth to Faraj's daughter, Khawand Asiya. Another daughter of Faraj named Khawand Satita married Sidi Ibrahim, son of Sultan

Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh (; 1369 – 13 January 1421) was a Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 6 November 1412 to 13 January 1421. Early career At the age of twelve, Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh was purchased as a slave by Sultan Barquq. Having entered the service o ...

. She died in 1416. Another daughter, Khawand Shakra, married Amir Jarbash al-Muhammadi and had a son, Nasir ad-Din Muhammad. She died in 1482.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir-ad-Din Faraj 1386 births 1412 deaths Burji sultans 15th-century Mamluk sultans

Family

See also

References