His rule ended following the insubordination of his most trusted general, Abu al-Dahab, which led to Ali Bey's downfall and death.

[1][2] The Encyclopedia of Islam adds that according to Ali Bey's contemporary biographer, Sauveur Lusignan, he was "supposedly" the son of a certain David, a Greek Orthodox priest.

The Ottoman sultan, wary of concentrating the full extent of Egypt's large military and economic resources into the hands of its governor, set up a complex system of government in the province to balance his power.

[8] The powerful offices of the defterdar, the qa'imiqam, who wielded executive authority during the absence of the governor, the amir al-hajj, who commanded the annual Muslim pilgrim caravan to Mecca, and the chief of the janissaries, were all held by mamluk beys.

For the remainder of the 18th century, the mamluk beys controlled Egypt's politics, but their incessant factionalism and internal strife allowed the Ottomans to maintain an important influence in provincial affairs.

[11] Ali's master, Ibrahim Ketkhuda, had led the Qazdughli faction to victory over the Qasimiya in 1730 and in 1739, drove out the head of the Faqariya, Uthman Bey.

Their jurisdiction typically included a group of villages in a rural province and they were essentially the most powerful administrators in those parts of the countryside that were not controlled by the Bedouin (nomadic) tribes.

Ridwan was ousted in May 1755, and by October, Uthman Bey al-Jirjawi became shaykh al-balad and Abd al-Rahman largely retired from politics.

While al-Ghazzawi was leading the Hajj caravan in 1760, he attempted to assassinate Abd al-Rahman, who remained influential in his retirement.

The plot was detected, after which Abd al-Rahman allied with Ali Bey, who wielded significant influence with the janissaries, to strengthen his position against al-Ghazzawi.

Upon hearing the election of Ali Bey and a subsequent order to execute the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Abd al-Rahman, Ghazzawi took up exile in Gaza on his way back from the Hajj.

[14] Although Ali Bey was officially shaykh al-balad, Abd al-Rahman, who lived in relative seclusion from daily politics, wielded actual power.

[18] He resolved to eliminate his rivals, promote mamluks of his own household and engineer their appointments to powerful positions, and expand his sources of income.

[24] In Gaza, Ali Bey established contact with the Acre-based strongman of northern Palestine, Zahir al-Umar, and gained the latter's support.

On 1 March 1768, he exiled some thirty officers, including eighteen high-ranking mamluks of his ally Salih Bey's household.

Ali Bey obtained a firman from Rakım Mehmed Pasha officially declaring them as rebels, enabling him to use imperial funds against them, though he still imposed heavy exactions on the local and foreign merchants toward the same purpose.

For the remainder of the year, Ali Bey continued eliminating or substantially weakening rivals among the mamluks and in the ranks of the ojaqs, especially the janissaries, who remained the only influential government military force in the province.

In 1770 he gained control of the Hijaz and a year later temporarily occupied Syria, thereby reconstituting the Mamluk state that had disappeared in 1517.

However, a few days after a major victory over Governor Uthman Pasha al-Kurji by the allied forces of Zahir al-Umar and Ali Bey's forces on 6 June 1771, Abu al-Dhahab, the commander of his troops in Syria, refused to continue the fight after an Ottoman agent stirred up mistrust between him and Ali Bey, and hastily returned to Egypt.

[38] First-person source Al-Jabarti declares that Ali Bey gave up power in 1769 when a new governor from the Ottoman capital of Istanbul was assigned by the sultan (although he doesn't name him).