Sultan al-Zahir Jaqmaq

Al-Zahir Abu Sa'id Jaqmaq ibn Abdallah al-Ala'i al-Zahiri, sultan of Egypt, Syria and the Hijaz. He is the thirty-fourth of the kings of the Turks and the tenth of the Circassians. He was made sultan in 842 AH after the deposition of al-Malik al-Aziz ibn Barsbay. ²

Ibn al-Imad says in Shadharat al-Dhahab that he raided Rhodes without conquering it, and that he built mosques, congregational mosques, bridges and causeways, repaired the spring of Hunayn, rebuilt the mosque of al-Khayf in Mina, and renewed places in the Sacred Precinct. ²

The author describes him as a lover of orphans, scholars and the righteous, and says that no one among the kings of Egypt is known to match his chastity and worship. This is the author's judgement, not the judgement of the museum. ²

He fell ill at the end of Dhu al-Hijja 856 AH, deposed himself in Muharram 857 AH, and had his son al-Mansur Uthman made sultan. He died twelve days later at over eighty years of age, after a sultanate of fourteen years and ten months. Forty days later al-Mansur was deposed and al-Ashraf Inal took the throne. ²

The date of death (3 Safar 857 AH) is derived and converted to the Gregorian calendar, and needs an additional source.