Ali Bey al-Kabir (Arabic: علي بك الكبير, romanized: ʿAlī Bey al-Kābīr, Georgian: ალი ბეი ალ-ქაბირი; 1728 – 8 May 1773) or Al-Emir Ali Bey Al-Masry was either a Mamluk (cartveli, გალელი ბიჭი) or the son of an Alexandrian Egyptian priest who ended up being the ruler of Egypt. Nicknamed Jinn Ali ("Ali the Devil") and Bulut Kapan ("Cloud-Catcher"), Ali Bey rose to prominence in 1768 when he rebelled against his Ottoman rulers, making the Egypt Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire independent for a short time. His rule ended following the insubordination of his most trusted general, Abu al-Dahab, which led to Ali Bey's downfall and death.

Ali Bey was born in Principality of Abkhazia and was of ethnic Georgian origin. The Encyclopedia of Islam adds that according to Ali Bey's contemporary biographer, Sauveur Lusignan, he was "supposedly" the son of a certain David, a Greek Orthodox priest. However, according to Alexander Mikaberidze, Ali Bey's father was a priest in the Georgian Orthodox Church. He was kidnapped and brought to Cairo, the capital of Ottoman Egypt, in 1741, when he was around 13, and was sold into slavery. He was purchased by two Jewish customs agents who gave him to Ibrahim Ketkhuda in 1743. Ibrahim Ketkhuda was also of Georgian origin.

Many other contemporary sources rather claim that not only was he a native Egyptian, he was both born and raised there as the son of an Alexandrian priest. To further confirm this claim, the historians pointed out the fact that he was also known as “Al-Emir Ali Al-Masry” which directly translates to “Prince Ali the Egyptian”. He was also nicknamed as “Jinn” Ali by the locals which is still used in Egypt as a form of praise. It is said that he was only regarded as a Mamluk by some historians because Ottomans would almost always have them govern the country.

Although the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1518–1519, the new rulers incorporated the remnant mamluk (manumitted slave soldier) troops and officials into the governance systems of the newly-formed province of Egypt. The Ottoman sultan, wary of concentrating the full extent of Egypt's large military and economic resources into the hands of its governor, set up a complex system of government in the province to balance his power. While the governor, always chosen from the Ottoman imperial personnel, remained the sultan's chief executive in Egypt and held the high rank of pasha, the defterdar, or treasurer, who was typically a mamluk, was given extensive power over the economy, and held the next highest rank of sanjakbey, often abbreviated to 'bey'. The province had seven Ottoman army units, called ojaqs, the most powerful of which was the janissaries. The remnant mamluks maintained a parallel military structure in the province that was initially loyal to the Ottoman rulers, who allowed them to continue importing and training new recruits, critical to the continuation of the mamluk tradition. By the early 18th century, the ojaqs had become considerably weakened and dominated by the mamluk beys. The powerful offices of the defterdar, the qa'imiqam, who wielded executive authority during the absence of the governor, the amir al-hajj, who commanded the annual Muslim pilgrim caravan to Mecca, and the chief of the janissaries, were all held by mamluk beys.

In 1711 a civil war broke between the two dominant mamluk factions of the country, the Faqariya and the Qasimiya, the former backed by the janissaries and the latter by the other Ottoman ojaqs and a newly-emergent mamluk faction, the Qazdughliya. The Faqariya were trounced during the war, but the victorious Qasimiya splintered into a spent force of warring factions by the 1730s, enabling the rise of the Qazdughliya to power. Despite the internal bloodletting among the mamluks, the civil war had signaled the triumph of the mamluk beys over the Ottoman ojaqs as the dominant military power in Egypt. For the remainder of the 18th century, the mamluk beys controlled Egypt's politics, but their incessant factionalism and internal strife allowed the Ottomans to maintain an important influence in provincial affairs. A testament to the newfound power and prestige of the mamluks in Egypt was the inauguration of a new title, shaykh al-balad (chief of the country), bestowed by the sultan on the preeminent mamluk bey.

Ali's master, Ibrahim Ketkhuda, had led the Qazdughli faction to victory over the Qasimiya in 1730 and in 1739, drove out the head of the Faqariya, Uthman Bey. By 1748, Ibrahim Ketkhuda and his partner in power, Ridwan Ketkhuda, head of the smaller Julfiyya mamluk faction, stabilized the country under their joint leadership. Moving up the ranks in Ibrahim Ketkhuda's mamluk household, Ali reached the rank of kashif in 1749. Kashifs were a rank below the beys, whom they expected to succeed in time, and were chosen among the favorite mamluks of their patron. In the early 18th century, there were thirty-six administrative offices open to kashifs, who numbered between sixty and seventy at that time. Their jurisdiction typically included a group of villages in a rural province and they were essentially the most powerful administrators in those parts of the countryside that were not controlled by the Bedouin (nomadic) tribes.

In 1753 or 1754, Ali was the amir al-hajj, the second most important office in the mamluk beylicate of the 18th century. In the course of leading the caravan, he made daring attacks against the Bedouin tribes who dwelt in the desert regions through which the caravan route passed. He earned his popular Turkish nickname, Balut Kapan, meaning 'he who catches clouds', an allusion to the Bedouin, who were as elusive as clouds. His less common, Arabic nickname, Jinn Ali ('Ali the demon'), was similarly a reference to his ferocity against the Bedouin. Upon his return from the Hajj, Ali attained the rank of bey. Ibrahim Ketkhuda died in November 1754, after which he was succeeded as head of the Qazdughli faction by Abd al-Rahman Ketkhuda, while Ridwan succeeded him as shaykh al-balad. Ridwan was ousted in May 1755, and by October, Uthman Bey al-Jirjawi became shaykh al-balad and Abd al-Rahman largely retired from politics. Ali became a bey during al-Jirjawi's reign.

Al-Jirjawi was ousted by Husayn Bey al-Sabunji, who became shaykh al-balad and exiled Ali Bey to the village of Nusat in Lower Egypt as part of a purge of potential rivals. In November, al-Sabunji was overthrown in a plot led by Husayn Bey Kashkash, a prominent bey of Ibrahim Ketkhuda's household, who recalled Ali Bey from his exile. Another 'Ali Bey', known as 'al-Ghazzawi', who had also been a mamluk of Ibrahim Ketkhuda, was recalled from his exile as well and was chosen in the council of preeminent beys as the new shaykh al-balad. While al-Ghazzawi was leading the Hajj caravan in 1760, he attempted to assassinate Abd al-Rahman, who remained influential in his retirement. The plot was detected, after which Abd al-Rahman allied with Ali Bey, who wielded significant influence with the janissaries, to strengthen his position against al-Ghazzawi. In a council of the leading beys held in al-Ghazzawi's absence, Abd al-Rahman proposed that Ali Bey replace the acting shaykh al-balad, Khalil Bey al-Daftardar, to which the council agreed. Upon hearing the election of Ali Bey and a subsequent order to execute the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Abd al-Rahman, Ghazzawi took up exile in Gaza on his way back from the Hajj.