Tughtakin was the youngest son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub and his brothers included Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid Empire and al-Adil, the later sultan of Egypt.
After Saladin overthrew the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, Tughtakin acquired lands in the Adawiya district near Cairo that belonged to Christian churches, most likely through force.
[9] During Turan-Shah's reign, a system of marine patrols to guard merchant ships was instituted, as was the consequent "galley tax", an imposition for this protection.
Tughtakin embraced his aides' idea and dispatched his warships to protect mercantile goods from pirate raids and to monitor maritime traffic.
Ibn al-Athir wrote that Tughtakin was "a stern ruler, harsh to his subjects, one who used to buy merchants' goods for himself and sell them at whatever price he wished".