At a glance
Era 6- Dates
- Died 1260 CE (658 AH)
- Who
- Mamluk sultan who stopped the Mongols at Ain Jalut
- Era
- The Mongols & the Mamluks
ProfileSayf al-Din Qutuz
According to the story told of him, Qutuz was born Mahmud ibn Mamdud, a prince of the Khwarazmian royal family, which the Mongols destroyed. Enslaved as a boy and sold in Syria, he was trained in Islamic learning and the arts of war, then went to Egypt and rose among the Mamluks.
In 1259, with Baghdad already fallen and the Mongols advancing, he took the throne of Egypt from the boy sultan. When Hulagu sent envoys demanding surrender, he called the commanders and scholars together, shamed and moved them into fighting, and refused. On 3 September 1260 he met the Mongols at Ain Jalut in Palestine. When his line wavered he threw off his helmet so that his men could see him, cried "Wa Islamah", and charged. The Mongols were defeated.
About seven weeks later, on the way back to Cairo, he was killed by some of his own officers.
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