Editing Mamluk (section)

===Early origins in Egypt===
{{See also|Balkan slave trade}}
[[File:BattleOfHoms1299.JPG|thumb|The [[battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]], 1299. depicting [[Mongol]] archers and Mamluk cavalry; 14th-century illustration from a manuscript of the ''[[La Flor des estoires de la terre d'Orient|History of the Tatars]]''.]]
[[File:View from the citadel.JPG|thumb|[[Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan]] (left) along with the later [[Al-Rifa'i Mosque]] (right) and two [[Ottoman architecture in Egypt|Ottoman mosques]] (foreground) in [[Cairo]]]]

The practice of [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|recruiting slaves as soldiers in the Muslim world]] and turning them into Mamluks began in [[Baghdad]] during the 9th century CE,<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/> and was started by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid caliph]] [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Mamluk |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mamluk |date=11 February 2023 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121153759/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Noahide-Laws |archive-date=21 January 2016 |url-status=live |access-date=4 April 2023 |quote='''Mamluk''', also spelled '''Mameluke''', [[slave soldier]], a member of [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|one of the armies of slaves]] established during the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid era]] that later won political control of [[Muslim world|several Muslim states]]. Under the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid sultanate]], Mamluk generals used their power to [[Mamluk Sultanate|establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria]] from 1250 to 1517. The name is derived from an Arabic word for slave. The use of Mamluks as a major component of Muslim armies became a distinct feature of [[History of Islam|Islamic civilization]] as early as the 9th century CE. The practice was begun in [[Baghdad]] by the ʿAbbasid caliph [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]] (833–842), and it soon spread throughout the Muslim world.}}</ref>

From the 900s through the 1200s, [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|medieval Egypt]] was controlled by dynastic foreign rulers, notably the [[Ikhshidid dynasty|Ikhshidids]], [[Fatimid dynasty|Fatimids]], and [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubids]]. Throughout these dynasties, thousands of Mamluk [[slave-soldier]]s and guards continued to be used and even took high offices.<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/> This increasing level of influence among the Mamluks worried the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubids]] in particular. Eventually, a Mamluk rose to become [[Sultan of Egypt]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>David Nicole ''The Mamluks 1250–1570''</ref> The Mamluks in medieval Egypt were predominantly of [[Aq Qoyunlu|White Turkic]] and [[Circassians|Circassian]] origins,<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/> and most of them descended from [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] Christians.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> After they were taken from their families, they became renegades.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Because Egyptian Mamluks were enslaved Christians, [[Islam and politics|Muslim rulers]] and [[Ulama|clerics]] did not believe they were true believers of Islam despite the fact that they were deployed for fighting in wars on behalf of several Islamic kingdoms as slave-soldiers.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

By 1200, [[Saladin]]'s brother [[Al-Adil|al-ʿĀdil]] succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing or imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory, al-ʿĀdil incorporated the defeated Mamluk retinue into his own. This process was repeated at al-ʿĀdil's death in 1218, and at his son [[Al-Kamil|al-Kāmil]]'s death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the Mamluks, who acted semi-autonomously as regional ''[[atabeg]]s''. The Mamluks increasingly became involved in the internal [[Court (royal)|court]] politics of the kingdom itself as various factions used them as allies.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>