Al-Salih Isma'il takes Damascus and al-Salih Ayyub takes Egypt in 637

In Safar 637 AH al-Malik al-Salih Ismaʿil ibn al-ʿAdil attacked Damascus, took it and seized its citadel. Al-Malik al-Salih Ayyub was held for some months in Karak ¹.

His brother al-ʿAdil II asked al-Nasir Dawud, lord of Karak, for him and offered one hundred thousand dinars for him. Al-Salih Ismaʿil also asked for him, but al-Nasir refused. Then he came to an agreement with al-Salih Ayyub and took him to Egypt. The Kamiliyya, the amirs of his father's state, sided with him and seized al-ʿAdil, so al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub took Egypt, and al-Nasir Dawud returned empty-handed. The Shadharat also say that in this year al-Malik al-Kamil was brought down from his citadel to his tomb in the Great Mosque of Damascus, and windows were opened for it onto the mosque ¹.

With this move Ayyubid Damascus passed to al-Salih Ismaʿil ibn al-ʿAdil, and Egypt passed to al-Salih Ayyub ibn al-Kamil. The great Ayyubid realm was split between two hostile branches, until al-Salih Ayyub returned and took Damascus itself some years later.