Al-Ashraf or al-Ashraf Musa (died 27 August 1237), fully Al-Ashraf Musa Abu'l-Fath al-Muzaffar ad-Din, was a Kurdish ruler of the Ayyubid dynasty.
Al-Ashraf Musa | |
---|---|
Emir of Damascus | |
Reign | 1229–1237 |
Predecessor | An-Nasir Dawud |
Successor | As-Salih Ismail |
Born | 1178 |
Died | 27 August 1237 | (aged 58–59)
Dynasty | Ayyubid |
Father | Al-Adil I |
Religion | Sunni Islam |
The son of Sultan al-Adil I, al-Ashraf was installed by his father in Harran in 1201 as Governor of the Jezireh. He continued to rule the region after the death of his father in 1218, until 1229.
During his tenure, he minted some coins with the effigy of Saladin and the legend "The Victorious King, Righteousness of the World and the Faith, Yusuf ibn Ayyub", following the model of earlier coins from the time of Saladin himself.[3]
His coinage was minted in Mayyafariqin, Sinjar, Akhlat, Irbil, Harran.[6]
After his brother al-Mu'azzam's death in 1227, al-Ashraf received a request from his nephew, al-Muazzam's son, An-Nasir Dawud, for aid in opposing his brother al-Kamil of Egypt. Instead, al-Ashraf and al-Kamil came to an agreement to divide their nephew's lands between them. Al-Ashraf captured Damascus in June 1229 and took control of the city, serving as emir of Damascus until his death in 1237. He took Baalbek as well in 1230. In return, he ceded his lands in Mesopotamia to al-Kamil and acknowledged his supremacy, while an-Nasir had to be satisfied with the possession of a principality centered on Kerak in the Transjordan region. A number of years later, al-Ashraf began to chafe under his brother's authority, and in 1237 allied himself with Kayqubad I, the Seljuk Sultan of Rûm, and various Ayyubid princelings based in Syria, against al-Kamil. However, Kayqubad died early in the summer of that year, and al-Ashraf himself died on 27 August, breaking up the alliance. Al-Ashraf was succeeded in Damascus by his younger brother, as-Salih Ismail.[8]
By the end of the 12th century, the wearing of the sharbush demonstrated support for Salah al-Din. Under the later Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and Syria it formed part of the khil'a given to an amir on his investiture.
Tamta, Ayyubid Wife of al-Ashraf Musa