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The Mamluks
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The Mamluks - a word which means owned - are
imported from outside the Muslim area, mainly Europe and Asia, given a basic
education, converted to Islam, and trained as soldiers. The relationship of the
Mamluks to his master was an odd kind of slavery; it was one of kinship rather
than servitude
The Ayyubid dynasty ended with the murder of
the last caliph by Mamluks troops. The Mamluks then chose one of them as the
new ruler, the Chief Mamluks Aybak, who began a period of Mamluks rule in Egypt
that lasted from 1250 to 1517.
There were two dynasties of Mamluks, the Bahri
Mamluks, who ruled Egypt until 1382, and the Circassian Mamluks. Being the
ruling class of Egypt, they were the only people to have political rights,
whereas the fellahin - Egyptian peasants - were considered mere providers of
food and other materials
Egypt under the Bahri Mamluks became a major
force in the Muslim world. But under the Circassian Mamluks, its fortunes
declined until constant bickering weakened the country and led to its conquest
by the Ottomans.
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