 Aybak was one of the oldest of the Salihi mamluks and a senior member of as-Salih's inner circle, despite only being an "emir awsat" (middle-ranked emir).He served as the principal bulwark against the more junior Bahri and Jamdari elements of the Salihiyyah, and his promotion to "atabeg al-askar" was met by Bahri rioting in Cairo, the first of many examples of intra-Salihi tensions surrounding Aybak's ascendancy.The Bahriyyah and Jamdariyyah were represented by their patron, Faris ad-Din Aktay, a principal organizer of Turanshah's assassination and the recipient of Fakhr ad-Din's large estate by Shajar al-Durr; the latter saw Aktay as a counterweight to Aybak.