He followed the plan of dividing his empire between his sons, the eldest Mahommed, called Malik al-Kdmil, being his viceroy in Egypt, while al-Muazzam Isa governed Syria, al-Ashraf Musa his eastern and al-Malik al-Aubad Ayyub his northern possessions His attitude towards the Franks was at the first peaceful, but later in his reign he was compelled to adopt more strenuous measures.
For policys sake, however, Aibek nominally associated with himself on the throne a scion of the Ayyubite house, Malik al-Ashraf Musa, who died in prison (1252 or 1254).
In the following year the Congo expedition established further posts, and in consequence the khalifa sent 3000 men, under the amir Khatem Musa, from Shakka to reoccupy the Bahr-el-Ghazal.
Red ochre, for which there is only a limited market, is mined on Ormuz, Abu Musa and other islands in the Gulf; salt, as deposits, on Ormuz and Qishm I., and by evaporation, near Mohammerah, Fao and elsewhere on both sides of the Gulf; gypsum is widely distributed throughout the Gulf; iron, as haematite and pyrites, widely found through the Ormuz series.
A century later, in the time of Alexander 11 Yakut gives the name Sal' to a fortress in Wadi Musa, Noldeke, ZDMG.
