View source for Al-Aziz Uthman ibn al-Adil

{{Short description|Ayyubid ruler of Banyas from 1218 to 1233}}
{{lower case}}
'''Al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān ibn al-ʿĀdil''' (died 20 June 1233) was the [[Ayyubid]] ruler of [[Banias|Banyas]] from 1218 until his death.
Al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān was a younger son of Sultan [[Al-Adil I|al-ʿĀdil I]]. He was granted Banyas as an ''[[iqṭāʿ]]'' (fief) by his elder brother, [[Al-Mu'azzam Isa|al-Muʿaẓẓam]], perhaps in 1218.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=144}} In 1219, with [[ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak of Salkhad|ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak]], he was left in charge of al-Muʿaẓẓam's Syrian principality when the latter went to join the Sultan [[al-Kāmil]] in Egypt against the [[Fifth Crusade]]. When al-Muʿaẓẓam decided to raze the [[walls of Jerusalem]], he protested unsuccessfully that he was able to defend the city. After al-Muʿaẓẓam dismantled all of his fortresses west of the [[Jordan River]], he gave the territory to al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=164}} This included the former crusader castles of [[Beaufort Castle, Lebanon|Beaufort]], [[Hunin|Chastel Neuf]] and [[Toron]].{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=186}}
During the [[Sixth Crusade]], in February or March 1228, al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān ambushed a group of crusaders near [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]]. He killed or captured some seventy horsemen in one of the few military actions of the crusade. Later that year, he entered a conspiracy to seize [[Baalbek]] from [[Bahramshah|Bahrām Shāh]]. Failing that, he attempted to take the town by siege until ordered to desist by his nephew, [[al-Nāṣir Dāʾūd]]. This caused a rift between the two and al-ʿAzīz joined al-Kāmil with the army of Banyas at [[Nablus]] in August 1228, when the sultan was preparing to dispossess al-Nāṣir.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=194–196}} At this time, al-Kāmil may have recognized al-ʿAzīz as autonomous in Banyas. Thereafter, he would cease to owe his position to the ruler of Damascus.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|pp=223 and 451n}} Already by 1226, al-ʿAzīz had begun to call himself ''[[Sultan|al-sultan]]'' in his inscriptions.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=472n}}
In the [[Treaty of Jaffa (1229)|negotiations that followed]], al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān acquired Baalbek.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=199}} Following the [[Siege of Damascus (1229)|siege of Damascus]] in June 1229, however, his brother [[Al-Ashraf Musa, Emir of Damascus|al-Ashraf]] refused to hand it over.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=207}} This betrayal did not cause a permanent rift. In 1230, al-ʿAzīz joined al-Ashraf's army that defeated the ''[[Khwarazmshah]]'' [[Jalal al-Din Mangburni|Jalāl al-Dīn]] at the [[battle of Yasi-chimen]] on 9 August.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=219}} He was also present at the brief [[Siege of Amida (1232)|siege of Amida]] in 1232.{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=222}}
Al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān died not long after this last campaign, on 10 ''[[Ramaḍān]]'' 630 [[Anno Hegirae|AH]] (20 June 1233). He was succeeded in Banyas by his eldest son, al-Ẓāhir Ghāzī, who soon died and was succeeded by a younger son, [[al-Ṣaʿīd Ḥasan ibn al-ʿAzīz|al-Ṣaʿīd Ḥasan]].{{sfn|Humphreys|1977|p=223}}
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |title=From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260 |first=R. Stephen |last=Humphreys |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1977}}
[[Category:1233 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century Ayyubid rulers]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Banias]]