page_title: History of Islam
section_title: Mamluk Sultanate
hierarchical_section_title: History of Islam / Mongol period / Mamluk Sultanate
caption_attribution_description: English: Bahri dynasty (1250-1382)
context_page_description: The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic and cultural developments of Islamic civilization. Most historians accept that Islam originated in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE. Muslims regard Islam as a return to the original faith of the prophets, such as Jesus, Solomon, David, Moses, Abraham, Noah and Adam, with the submission to the will of God.
  According to tradition, in 610 CE, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations, calling for submission to the one God, the expectation of the imminent Last Judgement, and caring for the poor and needy. Muhammad's message won over a handful of followers and was met with increasing opposition from Meccan notables. In 622, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle Abu Talib, Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib. With Muhammad's death in 632, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community during the Rashidun Caliphate.
  By the 8th century, the Umayyad Caliphate extended from Iberia in the west to the Indus River in the east.
context_section_description: In 1250, the Ayyubid Egyptian dynasty was overthrown by slave regiments, and the Mamluk Sultanate was born. Military prestige was at the center of Mamluk society, and it played a key role in the confrontations with the Mongol forces. In the 1260s, the Mongols sacked and controlled the Islamic Near East territories. The Mamluks, who were Turkic, forced out the Mongols (see Battle of Ain Jalut) after the final destruction of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Mongols were again defeated by the Mamluks at the Battle of Hims a few months later, and then driven out of Syria altogether. With this, the Mamluks were able to concentrate their forces and to conquer the last of the crusader territories in the Levant. Thus they united Syria and Egypt for the longest interval between the Abbasid and Ottoman empires (1250–1517). The Mamluks experienced a continual state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the "Muslim territory" (Dar al-Islam) and "non-Muslim territory" (Dar al-Harb). The Battle of Ain Jalut and the glorious Battle of Marj al-Saffar (1303), the latter partly led by Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, marked the end of the Mongol invasions of the Levant. Fatwas given during these conflicts changed the course of Political Islam.
  As part of their chosen role as defenders of Islamic orthodoxy, the Mamluks sponsored many religious buildings, including mosques, madrasas and khanqahs. Though some construction took place in the provinces, the vast bulk of these projects expanded the capital. Many Mamluk buildings in Cairo have survived to this day, particularly in Old Cairo.
caption: Mamluk empire and Mongol Ilkhanate
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