Editing Suez (section)

===Early Islamic era===
In the 7th century AD a town named "[[Clysma|Kolzum]]" stood just north of the site of present-day Suez and served as eastern terminus of a canal built by [[Amr ibn al-'As]], linking the [[Nile River]] and the [[Red Sea]]. Kolzum's trade fell following the closure of the canal in 770 by the second [[Abbasid]] caliph, [[al-Mansur]], to prevent his enemies in [[Arabia]] from accessing supplies from Egypt and the lands north of it. Nonetheless, the town benefited from the trade that remained between Egypt and Arabia.<ref name="Chisholm22">Chisholm, p.22.</ref> By 780 al-Mansur's successor [[al-Mahdi]] restored part of the canal.<ref name="Houtsma498">Houtsma, p.498.</ref> The [[Qarmatians]] led by [[al-Hasan al-A'sam]] defeated a [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] army headed by [[Jawhar al-Siqilli]] at Kolzum in 971 and thereby captured the town. Following his defeat in [[Cairo]] by al-Siqilli at the end of that year, Hasan and his forces retreated to Arabia via Kolzum.<ref name="Houtsma1115">Houtsma, p.1115.</ref> Suez was situated nearby and served as a source of drinking water for Kolzum, according to the [[Arab]] traveler [[al-Muqaddasi]], who visited in 986.<ref>Forgotten Books, p.61. Quotes [[al-Muqaddasi]].</ref>

The [[Ayyubid]] sultan of Egypt, [[Saladin]], fortified both Kolzum and Suez in order to defend Egypt's eastern frontier from [[Crusades|Crusader]] raids by [[Raynald of Chatillon]].<ref>Houtsma, 1993, p.341.</ref> Between 1183 and 1184, Raynald had ships stationed in the [[Red Sea]] to prevent the Ayyubid garrison at Kolzum from accessing water. In response, Saladin's brother [[al-Adil]] had [[Husam ad-Din Lu'lu']] build a naval fleet, which sailed to the southern port of [[Aidab]] to end Raynald's venture.<ref name="Houtsma1115"/> By the 13th century, it was recorded that Kolzum was in ruins, as was Suez, which had gradually replaced the former as a population center.<ref name="Chisholm22"/> According to Muslim historians [[al-Maqrizi]] and [[al-Idrisi]], Kolzum had once been a prosperous town, until it was occupied and plundered by [[Bedouin]]s. Arab geographer [[Shams al-Din al-Ansari al-Dimashqi|al-Dimashqi]] noted that Kolzum belonged to the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk]] province of [[Al Karak|al-Karak]] at the time.<ref name="Houtsma1115"/>