Al-Ashraf Musa ibn Masoud

The origin of al-Ashraf is not entirely clear. He was a descendant of Salah al-Din and the great-grandson of al-Zahir Ghazi , the emir of Aleppo , who fought against al-Adil I for dominance in the Ayyubid domains. His grandfather, the son of al-Zahir, al-Aziz Muhammad ibn Ghazi , was also the emir of Aleppo, while his father, al-Nasir , was also the emir of Damascus ^[1] . However, if this is true, he would be the nominal head of government in Egypt, which was fighting against his own father. According to other sources, he was the son of Yusuf and the grandson of al-Masoud Yusuf. Al-Masud Yusuf ibn Muhammad , the son of Sultan al-Qamil, was a former ruler of Yemen . After the Ayyubids were expelled from Yemen, his family moved to Cairo .

Ayyubid rule in Egypt actually ended in 1250 , when the Mamluks killed al-Muazzam Turan Shah. After a brief period of Shajar al-Durr rule, power passed to the Mameluke leader Aybek . An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf II , ruler of Aleppo , was received in Damascus and began preparations for sending the army to Egypt to proclaim himself a sultan. The Mamluks realized that if he reached Cairo, he could really threaten their power. For this reason, they decided that it would be wise for the nominal power in the country to belong to a member of the Ayyubid dynasty in order to give their board a semblance of legitimacy. For this reason, Aybek refused the throne, and six-year-old al-Ashraf Musa was proclaimed a sultan ^[2] .

Al-Nasir Yusuf's attack on Egypt was repelled, and an agreement was reached in 1253 , after which al-Nasir retired, leaving Egypt under Mamluk control. In 1254, a new potential threat to Aybek’s rule was created when Faris ad-Din Aktay, the leader of the Mamluk Bahrits, asked for permission to move to the Cairo stronghold with his future wife, who was the sister of the Ayyubid ruler Hama al-Mansur . Feeling that Aktay could use this marriage to acquire the right to the throne, Aybek ordered him to be killed. After that, Aybek decided to rule on his own, and the need for a representative of Ayyubids on the throne disappeared. Aibek deposed al-Ashraf Musa and sent him back to his aunt, after which he proclaimed himself the sultan for the second time ^[3] .