Muhammad Bey Abu'l-Dhahab

Muhammad Bey Abu'l-Dhahab was a Mamluk bey of the Kazdughliyya group and, for a few years in the early 1770s, the master of Egypt. ¹ The article on him in the Encyclopaedia of Islam is by P.M. Holt and names al-Jabarti's chronicle as the basic contemporary source. ¹

He entered the household of Bulut Kapan Ali Bey al-Kabir by 1174/1760-1 and became his treasurer. In 1178/1764-5, after returning from the pilgrimage with his master, who emancipated him, he was raised to the beylicate and got his nickname from scattering a largesse of gold coins on his appointment. ¹

Until 1185/1771 he was Ali Bey's principal lieutenant and commanded three important expeditions: a campaign in Upper Egypt in 1183/1769 against the paramount chief Humam ibn Yusuf, an expedition to the Hijaz in 1184/1770 that installed as amir of Mecca the candidate the Ottoman court favoured, and in 1185/1771 an expedition to Syria, in combination with Shaykh Zahir al-Umar, the rebel ruler of Galilee, against the governor of Damascus. ¹ Damascus had all but fallen when Abu'l-Dhahab hastily withdrew his forces and returned to Egypt; the article says various reasons have been suggested, among them a reluctance to appear in open revolt against the sultan. ¹

A breach with Ali Bey followed. Abu'l-Dhahab fled to Upper Egypt, built up his forces, and returned in Muharram 1186/April 1772, driving Ali Bey to seek refuge with Zahir. ¹ He secured his position by defeating an invasion by Ali Bey on 8 Safar 1187/1 May 1773, after which Ali died a few days later; Abu'l-Dhahab succeeded him as shaykh al-balad. ¹ The article says he essentially continued Ali Bey's policy of building an autonomous Mamluk state in Egypt with a buffer zone in Palestine, while nominally recognising the sultan's suzerainty: a titular Ottoman viceroy was received in Rabi I 1187/June 1773 and the annual contribution to the sultan's treasury, withheld by Ali Bey, was resumed. ¹

An invasion of Palestine was undertaken, ostensibly to overthrow Shaykh Zahir. Abu'l-Dhahab marched out in early Muharram 1189/March 1775 and took Jaffa; Zahir fled as he advanced on Acre, which fell and was pillaged. There he suddenly died on 8 Rabi II 1189/8 June 1775, the date the article takes from al-Jabarti, and his lieutenant Murad Bey withdrew the army to Egypt. ¹ He was buried in his own funerary mosque in Cairo, whose inscription gives him the title 'aziz Misr, which Ali Bey had earlier assumed. The article calls the title equivocal. ¹

The profitable tax farms that had been built up under Ali Bey and Abu'l-Dhahab supported his mamluk household, the Muhammadiyya, headed by Ibrahim Bey and Murad Bey, which held almost continuous domination over a quasi-autonomous Egypt until the arrival of Bonaparte's expedition. ¹ The Kazdughliyya article adds that after his death no single amir dominated; Ismail Bey, a comrade of Ali Bey, and two of Abu'l-Dhahab's mamluks, Ibrahim and Murad, competed for power. ²

His birth date and origin are not given in the article text read.