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6.2.2 - The Political Situation in that Period

When Ibn al-Arabi settled in Damascus, it was under the rule of the Ayyubid kings of the family of Salah al-Din. Their reign began in Damascus after he died in 589 AH, six years after his conquest of al-Quds in 589/1193. He left sixteen children in addition to his brothers and nephews, who fought amongst each other until the wars ended up by dividing the country into three kingdoms: Damascus, Aleppo and Egypt.

Damascus was ruled by Nour al-Din, the eldest son of Salah al-Din, and he was named al-Malik al-Afdhel: “the Best King”. Ghiyath al-Din Abu al-Fath took Aleppo and western Syria and he was called al-Malik al-Dhaher: “the Prevailing King”, with whom Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi received great status as we have seen in the previous chapter. Egypt was the share of Imad al-Din Osman, who was nicknamed King Aziz. After that, a number of Ayyubid kings ruled Damascus until the Mongols Wars in 658/1260 and the beginning of the Mamluk rule as we noted above.

The period of the reign of the Best King Nur al-Din continued in Damascus for ten years starting from 582/1186, where he was prince before the death of Salah al-Din. After that came the first Fair King (al-Malik al-Aadil) Seif al-Din came in 592/1196, whose reign continued until 615/1218, and came after him the Great King (al-Malik al-Muazzam) Sharaf al-Din (Sharafuddin), who ruled in the early years of the stay of Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi in Damascus until 624/1227, where the power was to King al-Nasser Salah al-Din Dawud, which lasted for two years and then took over King Ashraf I Mudhaffaruddin, until the year 634/1237. After that, a number of kings followed and the kingdom did not settle long for one of them. The power then returned to King Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub for the first time, and returned a year later to King Salih Emad al-Din, who remained in power until 643/1245. After that, King Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub took the reign for a second time, after which the Ayyubid state in Damascus was attached with the Ayyubid state in Egypt under the reign of King Toran Shah for a year. After that King Nassir Salah al-Din II was in power until the Mongols entered Damascus in 658/1260, and the Mamluk rule began as we noted above.

In general, despite the frequent wars between the Ayyubids, and the siege of Damascus many times, the city was blessed with security and stability, and the wars did not directly affect the people, since most of which ended with the agreement of the kings between them and the lifting of the siege, except what happened in 626 years 635 where the wars severely undermined security and affected the social status of the people of Damascus, as well as in 643 several years after Shaykh Muhyiddin passed away.