Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of
Egypt after the establishment of the
Ayyubid Dynasty of
Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally included
Sham and
Hejaz, with the consequence that the Ayyubid and later
Mameluke sultans were also regarded as the Sultans of
Syria. From 1914 the title was once again used by the heads of the
Muhammad Ali Dynasty of
Egypt and
Sudan, later being replaced by the title of
King of Egypt and Sudan in 1922.
Ayyubid Dynasty
Prior to the rise of Saladin, Egypt was the center of the Shia
Fatimid Caliphate, the only period in Islamic history when a
caliphate was ruled by members of the
Shia branch of
Islam. The
Fatimids had long sought to completely supplant the
Sunni Abbasid Caliphate based in
Iraq, and like their Abbasid rivals they also took the title
Caliph, representing their claim to the highest status within the Islamic hierarchy. However, with Saladin's rise to power in 1169, Egypt returned to the Sunni fold and the Abbasid Caliphate. Recognizing the Abbasid Caliph as his theoretical superior, Saladin took the title of
Sultan in 1174, though from this point until the Ottoman conquest, supreme power in the caliphate would come to rest with the Sultan of Egypt.
Mameluke dynasties
In 1250, the Ayyubids were overthrown by the
Mamelukes, who established the
Bahri dynasty and whose rulers also took the title sultan. Notable Bahri...
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