Al-Nasir Shihab ad-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun (1316 – 16 July 1344), better known as al-Nasir Ahmad, was the Turkic Bahri Mamluk sultan of Egypt, ruling from January to June 1342. A son of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, he became embroiled in the volatile succession process following his father's death in 1341. Al-Nasir Ahmad lived much of his life in the desert fortress of al-Karak in Transjordan and was reluctant to assume the sultanate in Cairo, preferring al-Karak, where he was closely allied with the inhabitants of the city and the Bedouin tribes in its vicinity. His Syrian partisans, emirs Tashtamur and Qutlubugha al-Fakhri, successfully maneuvered to bring Syria under al-Nasir Ahmad's official control, while sympathetic emirs in Egypt were able to oust the Mamluk strongman Emir Qawsun and his puppet sultan, the five-year-old half-brother of al-Nasir Ahmad, al-Ashraf Kujuk. Al-Nasir Ahmad eventually assumed the sultanate after frequently delaying his departure to Egypt.
Al-Nasir Ahmad was known to be a seclusive sultan, surrounding himself with his coterie of supporters from al-Karak, rarely making direct contact with the Mamluk emirs of Egypt and avoiding the public view. Two months into his reign, he relocated to al-Karak with substantial sums from the treasury and several horses and senior administrative officials. He ruled from the desert fortress, leaving a deputy, Emir Aqsunqur al-Salari, to oversee affairs in Egypt on his behalf. His unorthodox rule, alleged frivolity, and his execution of loyal partisans, namely Tashtamur and Qutlubugha, led to al-Nasir Ahmad being deposed from the sultanate by his half-brother, al-Salih Isma'il. He remained in the fortress of al-Karak, which the Mamluks besieged at least seven times, until being captured in July 1344. He was killed later that month on the orders of al-Salih Isma'il.
Ahmad was born in 1316 or 1318. His father was Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and his mother was Bayad, a singer and a slave girl freed by Emir Bahadur As and possibly given to al-Nasir Muhammad. At the time of his birth, Ahmad was al-Nasir Muhammad's only son (three other sons had died before Ahmad was born) and the only son of al-Nasir Muhammad born to Bayad. Bayad and al-Nasir Muhammad later divorced and the former married Maliktamur al-Sarjuwani, an emir who became Ahmad's stepfather. As a youth, Ahmad spent frequent bouts of time in the desert fortress of al-Karak under orders from his father. He was first sent there in 1324 under supervision and with a large budget to begin training in horsemanship and hunting. He was sent again in April 1326. Since Ayyubid times, but particularly during al-Nasir Muhammad's reign, al-Karak, which was isolated from the other Mamluk centers, became akin to a private academy for young Mamluk emirs where they could gain and perfect chivalric skills. Thus, Ahmad's residency in al-Karak was intended to imbue in him knightly qualities. While at al-Karak, Ahmad was under the supervision of its governor, Bahadur al-Badri. Nothing about Ahmad in the Mamluk-era sources is known between 1326 and 1331.
In May 1331, Ahmad was recalled to Cairo, under the escort of Badri, where he was made an emir. His allotment of an emirate occurred on 30 September with much pomp and festivities. The following day, Ahmad left Cairo for al-Karak. Sometime in 1331, prior to Ahmad's arrival in Cairo, Bayad died. Her widower, Maliktamur, was appointed governor of al-Karak concurrent with Ahmad and Badri's arrival in Cairo. Maliktamur was ordered to raise Ahmad and ensure his education. In 1332, Ahmad and his brother Abu Bakr, who had also been at al-Karak at the time, met al-Nasir Muhammad and the latter's favored son and Ahmad's much younger brother, Anuk, at the Red Sea town of Aqaba, south of al-Karak. From there, they were to accompany their father to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, but at the last minute, al-Nasir Muhammad sent Ahmad, Abu Bakr and Anuk to al-Karak under Maliktamur's care. Nothing is known about Ahmad's life between the latter event and 1337.
Ahmad was recalled to Cairo in 1337 by his angered father after the latter learned that Ahmad had been intimately associating with the riffraff of al-Karak. Upon Ahmad's arrival, al-Nasir Muhammad saw to it that Ahmad be married to Zahirbugha Tayirbugha, a daughter of one of al-Nasir Muhammad's leading emirs. Ahmad returned to al-Karak with his wife, who had been growing increasingly ill. At some point that year, Ahmad fell out with Maliktamur and requested from his father that the governorship of Mamlakat al-Karak (al-Karak Province) be transferred to him, a request which al-Nasir Muhammad acceded to. Ahmad thus became the governor of the fortresses of al-Karak and Shawbak, although al-Nasir Muhammad appointed an ustadar (majordomo), Emir Zumurrudi, to supervise him.
Zumurrudi reported back to al-Nasir Muhammad that Ahmad was behaving poorly, dressing as a Bedouin and was spending much of his time drinking with a Bedouin boy, Shuhayb, whom Ahmad had fallen in love with. As a consequence for his behavior, Ahmad was ordered by al-Nasir Muhammad to return to Cairo with Shuhayb in March 1339. Ahmad was received without fanfare and Shuhayb was jailed. In protest at the latter action, Ahmad forsook food and isolated himself to his quarters in the Cairo Citadel. Al-Nasir Muhammad sent his two most senior emirs, Bashtak and Qawsun, to persuade or threaten Ahmad to abandon his relationship with Shuhayb, but to no avail; Ahmad told the emirs if "this young man [Shuhayb] is punished, I will kill myself!" Ahmad also refused an offer from his father that would have transferred one hundred of al-Nasir Muhammad's mamluks to Ahmad's service in return for Ahmad's abandonment of Shuhayb. Al-Nasir Muhammad ultimately relented and abandoned hopes that Ahmad could succeed him as sultan. Instead, he released Shuhayb and made Ahmad an emir of forty mounted mamluks (the second highest Mamluk military rank). Ahmad was also made to stay in Egypt, while Abu Bakr was sent to al-Karak, likely replacing Ahmad as governor of the province.
In 1341, Shuhayb and a eunuch entered into a dispute related to a pigeon racing competition, in which the eunuch mistreated Shuhayb. In response, Ahmad had the eunuch severely beaten, and when news of the incident reached al-Nasir Muhammad, the latter attempted to force Ahmad to banish Shuhayb, again sending emirs Qawsun and Bashtak to communicate his demands to Ahmad. Ahmad refused, stating to Qawsun and Bashtak that while they each had a hundred young boys and girls, he had "contented" himself "with regard to worldly pleasures with only this boy because he has shared my exile, having left his family. How can I expel him? If the sultan commands that I do so, then let him expel me too". Ahmad was indeed expelled to Sarkhad, accompanied by Maliktamur. However, upon the intervention of some of al-Nasir Muhammad's emirs, wives and his harem, al-Nasir Muhammad decided to have Ahmad return to Cairo while Ahmad was still on his way to Sarkhad, although he first sold all of Ahmad's horses. Al-Nasir Muhammad also ultimately decided to send Ahmad back to al-Karak with Maliktamur, who was also reappointed governor of Mamlakat al-Karak.
Al-Nasir Muhammad died in June 1341. His reign was marked by a centralization of autocratic power in the Mamluk Sultanate. Shortly before his death, al-Nasir Muhammad discussed his succession with his two senior emirs, Qawsun and Bashtak. The latter supported Ahmad's nomination, but Qawsun supported Ahmad's younger brother Abu Bakr. Al-Nasir Muhammad also favored Abu Bakr and believed Ahmad was unfit to rule. He rejected Bashtak's suggestion, stating "As for Ahmad, who is in al-Karak, do not let him cross [the soil of] Egypt; do not put him in charge of anything, because he would cause the ruin of the state!" Following al-Nasir Muhammad's death, In May or June 1341, Abu Bakr was proclaimed sultan, but was virtually a ceremonial ruler, with Qawsun holding the reins of power as mudabbir al-dawla (organizer of the state), in effect the strongman of Egypt. He imprisoned Abu Bakr in the Upper Egyptian city of Qus where he was executed on trumped up charges of frivolity. Qawsun thereafter arranged for al-Nasir Muhammad's five-year-old son, al-Ashraf Kujuk, to be declared sultan, further consolidating Qawsun's power.