Al-Sahib Shams ad-Din Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Abi al-Raja' al-Tanukhi,[1] better known as Ibn al-Sal'us (died 10 December 1294), was an Arab merchant and the wazir (chief financial adviser) of the Mamluk sultan, al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290–1293). Ibn al-Sal'us began his career as a merchant based in Damascus, where he was eventually employed as a deputy muhtasib (market inspector). He gained a good reputation for his efforts at ensuring accountability in Damascene commerce. He was later appointed chief muhtasib in Cairo by Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun in 1290, but was soon after exiled to the Hejaz. When al-Ashraf Khalil succeeded Qalawun in November 1290, he recalled Ibn al-Sal'us to Cairo and appointed him wazir. Ibn al-Sal'us restored the political influence of the office of wazir and accompanied al-Ashraf Khalil during military expeditions against the Crusaders and the Armenians. His arrogance toward senior Mamluk emirs drew their resentment. In the months following al-Ashraf Khalil's murder, Ibn al-Sal'us was arrested and tortured to death on the orders of his rival, Emir Sanjar al-Shuja‘i.
Ibn al-Sal'us was born to an Arab family in the city of Nablus in Palestine.[2] He was raised in Damascus, where his father, Muhammad ibn Uthman, was a merchant. Ibn al-Sal'us became a merchant like his father and traveled extensively throughout the Middle East.[2] He returned to Damascus at some point and set up his mercantile business.[2] He gained an honorable reputation among other merchants in the city, and became a deputy muhtasib (market inspector) in the employment of the highest-ranking civilian Mamluk functionary in Syria.[2] His employment in the hisba (market oversight) of Damascus occurred during the reign of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun (1277–1290).[2] Ibn al-Sal'us grew wealthy from his job and was known to diligently police commerce in the city.[2] Mamluk-era chronicler Ibn al-Jazari described part of Ibn al-Sal'us's job as follows:
He rode around the city at night during the month of Ramadan ... to inspect those who produced kunafa, qata'if, sweets and other foods. He inspected the small-scale bazaar merchants, protecting the poor and correcting measures and weights.[3]
In 1290, Ibn al-Sal'us was appointed by Qalawun as chief market inspector in Cairo, where he became close friends with Qalawun's son and heir apparent, al-Ashraf Khalil. However, he soon became involved in political disputes and was exiled to the Hejaz.[2] According to the Mamluk historian, Baybars al-Mansuri, Ibn al-Sal'us was exiled due to Emir Turuntay's incitement against him to the sultan.[4]
Following Qalawun's death in November 1290, al-Ashraf Khalil recalled Ibn al-Sal'us from the Hejaz and appointed him wazir (chief financial adviser) in place of Emir Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Shuja'i al-Mansuri in December.[5] [6] Ibn al-Sal'us was the only non-mamluk appointed to high office during al-Ashraf Khalil's reign.[6] Ibn al-Sal'us played a commanding role in Mamluk military campaign against the Crusader states along the coast of Syria, including the conquest of Acre in June 1291.[2] In 1292, he participated in the Mamluk campaign against Armenia alongside al-Ashraf Khalil,[2] who joined with Ibn al-Sal'us and his troops in Damascus on his way to the Armenian front.[7] and was present during the capture of Qala'at al-Rum.[2] A civilian, Ibn al-Sal'us's assumption of military command during the Armenian campaigns raised the ire of some of the senior Mamluk commanders, including Emir al-Shuja'i.[2]
Ibn al-Sal'us revived the importance of the office of wazir, after its role in the sultanate's hierarchy had declined in the later years of Ayyubid rule.[8] He was regularly accompanied by Mamluk dignitaries and the four chief Muslim judges when he had an audience with al-Ashraf Khalil, supported him unreservedly.[8] As wazir, he commissioned the construction of a ribat (hospice) along the northern wall of the Haram ash-Sharif (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.[9] By 1310, the ribat was known as the "Ribat Emir Salar" after the 14th-century emir, Salar, and was in use until at least the early 15th century.[9] He was initially well-liked by the Mamluk emirs,[2] but as he behaved arrogantly toward them,[2] [8] they became hostile toward him and came to resent his influence with the sultan.[8] He had personal conflicts with the na'ib as-saltana (viceroy), Emir Baydara, and the atabeg al-asakir (commander in chief), al-Shuja‘i.[8] In early 1292, Ibn al-Sal'us informed al-Ashraf Khalil that Baydara was accruing far more revenue than the sultan from Upper Egypt, to which the sultan reacted by confiscating part of Baydara's iqta (fief).[10] 1293, Ibn al-Sal'us instigated al-Ashraf Khalil's wrath against Baydara during a hunting trip in Buhayra (western Nile Delta) by informing him of Baydara's seizure of the sultan's tax revenues from Alexandria. Al-Ashraf Khalil scolded Baydara, struck him in the head in the presence of other emirs and threatened to allow Ibn al-Sal'us to torture him in prison.[11]
After al-Ashraf Khalil was murdered by emirs Baydara and al-Shuja‘i and their mamluks in December 1293, Ibn al-Sal'us lost his key backer. Al-Ashraf Khalil's younger brother an-Nasir Muhammad was installed on the throne with strongman al-Adil Kitbugha appointed na'ib as-saltana. Ibn al-Sal'us was thereafter replaced as wazir by al-Shuja‘i. Prior to these developments, a kinsman of Ibn al-Sal'us warned him in a poem to "take care ... and know that you have trodden on a viper ... I fear for you of al-Shuja‘i's sting".[2] Ibn al-Sal'us was charged by Shuja'i of committing financial crimes and was arrested.[2] He was subsequently tortured and died of his injuries on 10 December 1294.[2] [12] Afterward, al-Shuja‘i summoned Ibn al-Sal'us's kinsman who wrote him the poem warning of al-Shuja‘i's wrath, but rather than punish him, Shuja'i rewarded Ibn al-Sal'us's kinsman, telling him "You gave him good council, but he did not accept advice."[2]