As-Salih Ayyub

Ayyub began to grow suspicious of Ismail's perceived procrastination and sent a noted physician, Sa'd al-Din al-Dimashqi, to find out what his vassal was doing.

Ayyub was abandoned by his troops and taken captive by local Bedouin who transferred him to al-Nasir Dawud's control, in which he was held as a prisoner in Kerak, along with Shajar al-Durr who gave birth to their son Khalil, and his Mamluk Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Salihi.

Al-Adil was imprisoned by his own troops, and Ayyub and An-Nasir made a triumphal entry into Cairo in June 1240, hence As-Salih became the paramount ruler of the Ayyubid family.

Within Egypt, a powerful faction of Emirs, the Ashrafiyya, were conspiring to depose him and replace him with his uncle, as-Salih Ismail, who had regained control of Damascus after his departure.

[12] As the Mamluks would eventually overthrow the Ayyubid dynasty and take power on their own, their early rise to prominence under As-Salih Ayyub is of considerable historical importance.

Just as his Bahri Mamluks were important in enabling him to maintain order in Egypt, the Khwarezmians were useful in dominating the other Ayyubid rulers in neighbouring regions.

In 1244, at As-Salih's invitation,[13] the remainder of the Khwarezmian army which had just been crushed and routed out by the Mongols, advanced through Syria and Palestine and sacked Jerusalem, which had been handed over to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor by al-Kamil during the Sixth Crusade.

[15] In 1246 he decided that his Khwarezmian allies were dangerously uncontrollable, so he turned on them and defeated them near Homs, killing their leader and dispersing the remnants throughout Syria and Palestine.

[citation needed] As-Salih was away fighting his uncle in Syria when news of the Crusader invasion came, but he quickly returned to Egypt and encamped at al-Mansourah, where he died on 22 November after having his leg amputated in an attempt to save his life from a serious abscess.