Awlad al-Shaykh (Banu Hamawiya)

The family, called Awlad al-Shaykh or Banu Hamawiya, was originally Iranian: a family of Sufis and Shafi'i jurists, a branch of which emigrated to Syria and became influential under the later Ayyubid kings, al-Malik al-Kamil and his sons. The earliest known member, Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Hamawiya (Persian Hamawayh) al-Juwayni, died in 530 AH (1135-6); he was a celebrated Sufi, shaykh and author of several works on mysticism. ¹

His grandson Imad al-Din Abu 'Umar 'Ali (died 577 AH, 1181) went to Damascus, and in 563 AH (1167) Nur al-Din appointed him inspector of all the Sufi institutions at Damascus, Hama, Homs, Baalbek and other places in Syria. He thus became the ancestor of the Syrian and Egyptian divisions of the family, while the connexions with the Iranian branch were maintained. Of his sons, Sadr al-Din Abu '1-Hasan Muhammad (543-617 AH) was born in Khurasan, came with his father to Damascus, and succeeded him; he married the daughter of the qadi Ibn Abi 'Asrun, and was a friend of al-Malik al-'Adil. He later went to Egypt, was given the same offices as at Damascus, and died at Mosul on the way to Baghdad as an ambassador of al-Malik al-Kamil. His younger brother Taj al-Din 'Abd Allah (572-642 AH) served under the Almohad sultans in the Maghrib for seven years, then settled at Damascus as an inspector of Sufi institutions, and wrote histories of which only the titles survive. ²

The fame of the family rests on the four sons of Sadr al-Din, above all Fakhr al-Din Yusuf, born about 580 AH (1184). He entered political life, and al-Kamil sent him as envoy to the caliph in 614 AH (1217), and from 624 AH (1229) as ambassador to the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II until the treaty over Jerusalem of 18 February 1229, becoming a friend of the emperor. He held high posts in the later part of al-Kamil's reign, and after al-Kamil's death was a member of the crown council at Damascus. Disgraced under al-Adil II, he was restored by al-Salih Ayyub in 643 AH (1246) and made commander-in-chief of the Egyptian army. In 1249, when Louis IX threatened Egypt, he was entrusted with its defence; after the Frankish invasion of the Delta he gave up Damietta and withdrew to al-Mansura, where he was killed on 8 February 1250 (4 Dhu '1-Qa'da 647 AH). ³

His brothers 'Imad al-Din 'Umar, Kamal al-Din Ahmad and Mu'in al-Din Hasan entered politics late in al-Kamil's reign after teaching Shafi'i law at Cairo. 'Imad al-Din 'Umar was murdered at Damascus by al-Jawwad in 636 AH (1239). Kamal al-Din was captured in 638 AH (1241) and died at Gaza in 640 AH (1242). Mu'in al-Din Hasan was appointed vizier in 637 AH (1240), led the campaign that recovered Damascus in 1245, and died of typhoid in 643 AH (1246). ³