Ibrahim Bey

Who was Ibrahim Bey?

Ibrahim Bey was an Egyptian Mamluk chieftain of Georgian origin.

Ibrahim Bey was born as Abram Sinjikashvili into the family of a Christian priest in Martqopi in the eastern Georgian province of Kakheti. As a child, he was captured by Ottoman slave raiders and sold out in Egypt where he was converted to Islam and trained as a Mamluk. Through loyal service to Muhammad Bey Abu l'Dhahab, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt, he rose in rank and attained to the dignity of bey. With time he emerged as one of the most influential Mamluk commanders, sharing a de facto control of Egypt with his fellow Georgian Murad Sinjikashvili Murad Bey he was born in the Tbilisi. The two men survived through the persistent Ottoman attempts at overthrowing the Mamluk regime and civil strifes.

At the Battles of the Pyramids and the Heliopolis Ibrahim fought against Napoleon's armies, but was defeated on both occasions. These defeats effectively ended his reign over the country, and he died in obscurity in 1817, having survived Mohammad Ali Pasha's 1811 massacre of Mameluke leaders.