Following the late-fourteenth-century demise of al-Malik al-Zahir Barquq, the founder of the Circassian mamluk dynasty, the Zahiriyya mamluks assumed control. The authority of his successor al-Nasir Faraj was undermined by a series of political, economic and military challenges to the Egyptian-Syrian state. Egypt and Syria were afflicted by a period of internal strife. However, in understanding this instability historiography overlooks the nature of the Mamluk state. The Mamluk period witnessed civil war among the amirs for nearly three centuries, but conflict between the Mamluk factions made the state dynamic rather than weak. If the environment of inter-factional struggle in previous periods is ignored, however, it will not be understood how this dynamic structure worked or how order could emerge from chaos. This article argues that the conflict between Mamluk factions was not indicative of chaos but of order. The instability in Egypt-Syria was caused by intra-factional struggle rather than inter-factional conflicts: The main difference of the al-Nasir Faraj period from the Bahri period is the absence of various Mamluk factions. This study argues that in the early years of al-Nasir Faraj, the Zahiriyya mamluks plunged the state into chaos due to intra-factional conflict. This destabilized not only Syria but Egypt as well. The first part of al-Nasir Faraj's reign was shaken by both internal strife among the amirs and external threats such as Timur's attacks. Analyzing historical events based on primary sources, this study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the oligarchic tendencies in the Mamluks, the struggles among the amirs, and the leadership structure in the Mamluk world.