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Al-Mu'azzam Isa

{{Infobox royalty

| name = {{Transliteration|ar|Al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā|italic=no}}

| title = Emir of Damascus

| image=

| caption=

| reign = 1218–1227

| coronation=

| full name=

| predecessor= Al-Adil I

| successor = An-Nasir Dawud

| dynasty = Ayyubid

| father=

| spouse=

| birth_date = 1176

| birth_place= Cairo

| death_date = {{death date and age|1227|11|12|1176|df=y}}

| death_place= Damascus

| place of burial=

| religion = Sunni Islam

|}}

{{transliteration|ar|Sharaf ad-Dīn al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā|italic=no}} ({{Transliteration|ar|al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā|italic=no}}) (1176 – 1227) was the Ayyubid Kurdish emir of Damascus from 1218 to 1227. The son of Sultan al-Adil I and nephew of Saladin, founder of the dynasty, al-Mu'azzam was installed by his father as governor of Damascus in 1198{{cite book |last1=Grabar |first1=Oleg |last2=Ḳedar |first2=B. Z. |title=Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade |date=2009 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-72272-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CW6U921i4fEC |quote=In 1198, al-‘Adil had his second son, al-Malik al-Mu'azzam ‘Isa, invested as ruler of Damascus, a position that included responsibility for Jerusalem. |pages=163–171}} or 1200.{{EI2|title=Aybak|first=E.|last=Littmann|volume=1|page=780}} After his father's death in 1218, al-Mu'azzam ruled the Ayyubid lands in Syria in his own name, down to his own death in 1227. He was succeeded by his son, an-Nasir Dawud.

He was respected as a man of letters, and was interested in grammar and jurisprudence.

By 1204, Jerusalem was his primary residence.

Legacy

He ordered and contributed to the construction and restoration of many buildings inside the {{Transliteration|ar|Ḥaram ash-Sharīf}} (the Noble Sanctuary), Jerusalem:

  • {{anchor|extension}} Extending the Dome of the Rock terrace by 18 meters westward.{{refn|group=N|p. 164: "extension of the whole west side of the Dome of the Rock terrace a full 18 m to the west, with the addition of some water tanks […] By extending the upper terrace, al-Muʿazzam created a prestigious site for a new building known as the "Grammar School" (al-Madrasa al-Nahwiyya)."}}
  • Two water-distribution structures: as a donor, not as a patron (one who ordered them built):{{cite book |last=Humphreys |first=R. Stephen |title=From Saladin to the Mongols |date=1977 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-87395-263-7 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JfXl5kvabhoC&pg=PA151 |quote=The other two works of public utility connected with the name of al-Mu‘azzam were in fact not directly sponsored by him. One is a cistern built in 607/1210, the other a cistern and kiosk built in 613/1216-17. Their inscriptions identify their patron – i.e., the man who ordered them built – as one Muhammad b. ‘Urwa b. Sayyar al-Mausili, but the inscriptions also say they were built "by the benevolence of" (min ni‘mat) al-Malik al-Mu‘azzam. […It] probably indicates that the prince contributed a sum of money towards the work as a gesture of piety.}}
  • 1210 or 1211: the Cistern of al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā, a water tank.{{cite book |last1=Hawari |first1=Mahmoud |title=Ayyubid Jerusalem (1187-1250) |date=2007 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0042-9 |pages=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lidmAAAAMAAJ |quote= Ṣahrīj al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā. 607 / 1210-11. Cistern of al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā}}
  • 1216 or 1217: the Shaʿlān Sebil, a sebil (fountain).{{cite web |title=Sabil Sha'lan |url=http://www.i2ud.org/jer/priv/html3/monuments/sites/t079_sabil-shalan/ |website=Institute for International Urban Development}}
  • 1217 or 1218: restoring the arched portico of al-Aqsa Mosque's façade,{{cite book |last=Hillenbrand |first=Carole |title=The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives |date= 2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-95613-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHh0DwAAQBAJ&pg=SA6-PA47 |quote= some of the second-hand material used in the arches of the facade includes the sculpted ornament taken from Crusader structures of the twelfth century […] One of the inscriptions on the porch records that the facade of the portico was constructed by the Ayyubid prince al-Mu'azzam 'Isa in c. 609/1217-18.}}{{cite book |last=Blessing |first=Patricia |title=Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia |date=2017 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-1131-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jVYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT82 |quote=al-Aqsa Mosque […] the north porch was rebuilt in 1217–18 under the patronage of Salah al-Din’s nephew al-Malik al-Muʿazzam.}} adding a pendentive dome over the main entrance.
  • The Market of Knowledge ({{transliteration|ar|Sūq al-Maʿrifa}}):{{cite journal |last=Jarrar |first=Sabri |title=Suq al-Maʿrifa: An Ayyubid Hanbalite Shrine in al-Haram al-Sharif |journal=Muqarnas |date=1998 |volume=15 |pages=71–100 |doi= 10.2307/1523278 |jstor=1523278 |url=https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/media.archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3409/original/DPC1292.PDF }} a Hanbalite prayer place in the southeast corner of the compound; demolished in the 19th century.
  • 1213-14: ten cross-vaulted bays on piers in the central section of the compound's north portico (of the compound's northern wall).
  • 1211-12: renovating the southeastern colonnade.{{refn|group=N|p. 170: "the arcade [7] at the top of the eastern flight of steps on the south side of the Dome of the Rock terrace". But [7] (on p. 154) is mislabelled as "Southwest Arcade".}}{{cite book |title=The Third International Conference on Bilad Al-Sham: Jerusalem |date=1983 |publisher=University of Jordan, Yarmouk University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxBOAQAAMAAJ |quote=Under al-Mu‘azzam ‘Isa [...] The arcade (qanatir) above the south-eastern flight of steps leading to the Dome of the Rock platform was restored (608 / 1211-12), the Nasiriyya Zawiya rebuilt (610/1214)}}
  • New door leaves for the Superintendant's Gate and Remission Gate.

He founded these madrasas:

  • 1207: an-Naḥawiyya Madrasa (Grammarians' Madrasa), which is on the extended terrace he made.{{cite web |title=Qubbat al-Nahawiya |url=http://i2ud.org/j/html3/monuments/sites/t075_qubbat_al_nah/ |website=Institute for International Urban Development (I2UD)}}
  • 1209–1218: al-Muʿaẓẓamīya Madrasa (al-Hanafiyya Madrasa), Jerusalem: specialized in Hanafi jurisprudence (now al-Mujāhidīn Mosque).{{cite web |title=Madrasat al-Malik Mu'azzam 'Isa (al-Mu'azzamiya) |url=http://i2ud.org/j/html3/monuments/sites/t080_mad_al_m/ |website=Institute for International Urban Development}}
  • 1214: an-Nāṣiriyya (an-Nāṣriyya): on top of the Golden Gate; named after his uncle, Saladin ({{transliteration|ar|al-Malik an-Nāṣir|italic=no}}). It no longer exists.{{cite book |last1=Griffel |first1=Frank |title=Al-Ghazali's Philosophical Theology |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972472-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxFtE9uEAHkC&pg=PA46 |quote= al-Nāṣiriyya }}{{cite book |last1=Masalha |first1=Nur |title=Palestine Across Millennia: A History of Literacy, Learning and Educational Revolutions |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-7556-4297-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-RSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT266 |quote=Al-Madrasa al-Nasriyya}}
  • al-Muʿaẓẓamīya Madrasa, aṣ-Ṣāliḥiyyah, Damascus: also his family mausoleum.{{cite book |last=Herzfeld |first=Ernst |title=Ars islamica XI-XII |date=1934 |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=University of Michigan Press |pages=49–50 |url=https://archive.org/details/arsislamica11121946detr/page/49/mode/1up?view=theater}}

Furthermore, he modified the walls of Jerusalem and Damascus:

  • 1202, 1203, 1212 and 1213-14: repairing Jerusalem's walls' fortifications.
  • 1219: dismantling Jerusalem's walls to preemptively reduce Jerusalem's military strength in case of it falling into the hands of the Crusaders.
  • 1226: rebuilding Damascus's city wall, likely also refortifying it with a tower at the southeastern corner.{{cite book |last1=Kagay |first1=Donald J. |last2=Villalon |first2=L. J. Andrew |title=The Circle of War in the Middle Ages: Essays on Medieval Military and Naval History |date=1999 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-85115-645-3 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twTwgmQgdywC&pg=PA41}}

References

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{{succession box|title=Emir of Damascus|before=Al-Adil I|after=An-Nasir Dawud|years=1218–1227}}

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{{Ayyubid dynasty}}

{{Hanafi scholars}}

{{Maturidi}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muazzam}}

Category:1176 births

Category:1227 deaths

Category:13th-century Kurdish people

Category:13th-century Ayyubid rulers

Category:Hanafis

Category:Maturidis

Category:Ayyubid emirs of Damascus

Category:Muslims of the Fifth Crusade

Category:Syrian Sunni Muslims

Category:Year of birth unknown

{{Islam-bio-stub}}