Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (5 November 1205 – 22 November 1249), nickname: Abu al-Futuh (), also known as al-Malik al-Salih, was the Ayyubid Kurdish ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249. Early life In 1221, as-Salih became a hostage at the end of the Fifth Crusade, while John of Brienne became a hostage of as-Salih's father Al-Kamil, until Damietta was reconstructed and restored to Egypt. In 1232, he was given Hasankeyf in the Jazirah (now part of Turkey), which his father had captured from the Artuqids. In 1234 his father sent him to rule Damascus, removing him from the succession in Egypt after suspecting him of conspiring against him with the Mamluks. In 1238, al-Kamil died leaving as-Salih his designated heir in the Jazira, and his other son Al-Adil II as his heir in Egypt. In the dynastic disputes which followed, as-Salih took control of Damascus, in 1239, and set about using it as a base for enlarging his domain. He received representations from his father's old Emirs in Egypt, who appealed to him to remove his brother, while making ready to invade Egypt, he was informed that his brother had been captured by his soldiers and was being held prisoner. As-Salih was invited to come at once and assume the Sultanate. In August 1239, Ayyub began pressuring Al-Salih Ismail to join him at Nablus for the campaign to take over Egypt from al-Adil II. Ayyub began to grow suspicious of Ismail's perceived procrastination and sent a noted physician, Sa'd al-Din al-Dimashqi, to find out what his vassal was doing. Ismail's vizier discovered Ayyub's scheme and secretly forged al-Dimashqi's recordings to mislead Ayyub into thinking Ismail was indeed on his way to Nablus. Eventually, Ismail, with the support of the Ayyubids of Kerak, Hama and Homs, captured Damascus from Ayyub in September 1239. Ayyub was abandoned by his troops and taken captive by local Bedouin who transferred him to al-Nasir Dawud's control, in which he was held as a prisoner in Kerak, along with Shajar al-Durr who gave birth to their son Khalil, and his Mamluk Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Salihi. In April 1240, An-Nasir, quarreling with al-Adil II, released Ayyub and allied with him against the Egyptians, in return for a promise that Ayyub would reinstall him in Damascus. Al-Adil was imprisoned by his own troops, and Ayyub and An-Nasir made a triumphal entry into Cairo in June 1240,