Al-Ashraf Sha'ban

Al-Ashraf Zayn ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Sha'ban ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun (, better known as al-Ashraf Sha'ban ( or Sha'ban II, was a Turk Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty in 1363–1377. He was a grandson of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–1341). He had two sons (out of a total of eight) who succeeded him: al-Mansur Ali and as-Salih Hajji.

Biography Early life and family Sha'ban was born in 1353/54. His father was al-Amjad Husayn (died 1363), a son of Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–1341) who, slave woman who married al-Amjad Husayn. Sha'ban had four brothers, Anuk (d. 1390/91), Ibrahim, Ahmad and Janibak (d. 1428), and three sisters, Zahra (d. 1370), Shaqra (d. 1401) and Sara (d. 1432). Yalbugha and the emirs viewed al-Ashraf Sha'ban as a figurehead who would be easy to manage. Yalbugha maneuvered to become the effective regent of the sultan. At the start of the revolt, a significant number of Yalbugha's mamluks remained loyal to their master, but once al-Ashraf Sha'ban, who sought to rule in his own right, lent his support to the rebels, they too joined the revolt. By June 1367, Yalbugha's former mamluks had largely entered the services of Emir Asandamur an-Nasiri, who had neutralized his rival emirs.

In late 1367, Asandamur and his newly acquired mamluks moved against al-Ashraf Sha'ban, but were defeated. The revolt was also supported by Emir Khalil ibn Qawsun, the son of former regent Emir Qawsun (d. 1342) and a daughter of an-Nasir Muhammad who had been appointed atabeg al-asakir (commander in chief) by al-Ashraf Sha'ban earlier that year. Khalil had been promised the throne by Asandamur. The support of the commoners was enlisted by al-Ashraf Sha'ban's loyalist commanders, emirs Asanbugha Ibn al-Abu Bakri and Qushtamur al-Mansuri, both of whom withdrew from the battle in Cairo and left the commoners to fight Asandamur's forces alone. The commoners were able to turn the tide in favor of al-Ashraf Sha'ban's partisans, and the latter's emirs and Royal Mamluks returned to the battle, In June/July 1373, conflict broke out between al-Ashraf Sha'ban and Emir Uljay al-Yusufi. The commoners once again took up arms alongside al-Ashraf Sha'ban's loyalists. In 1374, a famine set in within Egypt that would last two years. To mitigate the burden on his subjects, al-Ashraf Sha'ban undertook efforts to provide food for the poor, dividing the financial responsibility of the effort among his emirs and the well-to-do merchants of Cairo.

In 1375, al-Ashraf Sha'ban conquered the city of Sis, the last stronghold of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. This destroyed the Armenian kingdom and extended the boundaries of the Mamluk empire up to the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia.

In March 1376, al-Ashraf Sha'ban departed for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Once he left Egypt, Aynabak led a revolt of the Royal Mamluks and unemployed mamluks against the sultan. Al-Ashraf Sha'ban attempted to flee, but he was later captured by the rebels at Aqaba. In return for a promised promotion from Aynabak, Emir Jarkas as-Sayfi strangled and killed al-Ashraf Sha'ban in 1377.