Jalal ad-Din was the last ruler of the Khwarezm Shahs. Actually the territory of the sultanate had been annexed by the Mongol Empire during the reign of Jalal ad-Din’s father Alaaddin Muhammad; but Jalal ad-Din continued to fight with a small army. In 1225, he retreated to Azerbaijan and founded a principality around Maragheh, East Azerbaijan. Although initially he formed an alliance with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm against the Mongols, for reasons unknown he later changed his mind and began hostilities against the Seljuks. In 1230, he conquered Ahlat, (in what is now Bitlis Province, Turkey) an important cultural city of the era from the Ayyubids which led to an alliance between the Seljuks and Ayyubids. Jalal ad-Din on the other hand allied himself with Jahan Shah, the rebellious Seljuk governor of Erzurum.

During the first day, the alliance seized some positions from the Khwarezmians but the occupiers abandoned the newly captured positions at night. Jalal al-Din refrained from attacking. The alliance again started an attack on the next dawn but they were repelled back. After repelling the allied army, the Khwarezmians charged forward and forced Kaykubad I to retreat further. The lost positions were captured back. Al-Ashraf ,the commader of the Mamluk army reinforced Kaykubad's divisions. After seeing the reinforcements, Jalal al-Din concluded that the battle is lost, due to the numerical superiority of the alliance and abandoned the battlefield.

This battle was Jalal ad-Din’s last battle, as he lost his army, and while escaping in disguise he was spotted and killed in 1231. His short-lived principality was conquered by the Mongols.