Ahmed Pasha al-Jazzar (Arabic: أحمد باشا الجزّار, c. 1720–30s – 7 May 1804) was the Acre-based Bosniak Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet from 1776 until his death in 1804 and the simultaneous governor of Damascus Eyalet in 1785–1786, 1790–1795, 1798–1799, and 1803–1804. Having left his native Bosnia as a youth, he began a military career in Egypt in the service of mamluk officials, eventually becoming a chief enforcer for Ali Bey al-Kabir, Egypt's practical ruler. Al-Jazzar fell out with Ali Bey in 1768 after refusing to take part in the assassination of another of his former masters. He ultimately fled to Syria, where he was tasked by the Ottomans with defending Beirut from a joint assault by the Russian Navy and Zahir al-Umar, the Acre-based ruler of northern Palestine. He eventually surrendered and entered Zahir's service before defecting from him.

After the Ottomans defeated and killed Zahir, they appointed al-Jazzar as their garrison commander in Acre. He pacified the Galilee and Mount Lebanon, which had been dominated by Zahir's kinsmen and the Druze forces of Yusuf Shihab, respectively. In 1776 or 1777, he was appointed governor of Sidon, but relocated the provincial capital to Acre, which he strongly fortified. In the following years, he defeated his erstwhile Shia Muslim ally, Nasif al-Nassar, consolidating his control over Jabal Amil (modern southern Lebanon). In 1785, al-Jazzar was appointed to his first of four terms as governor of Damascus, each time gaining more influence in the province's affairs in opposition to his rivals from the Azm family. In 1799, with the help of the British navy, al-Jazzar defended Acre from Napoleon, forcing the latter to withdraw from Palestine in disarray. His successful defense of Acre earned him prestige in the empire and made him well known in Europe.

Al-Jazzar died in office in 1804. He was ultimately succeeded in Acre by his mamluk Sulayman Pasha al-Adil; until his suppression of a mamluk revolt in 1789, al-Jazzar had appointed mamluks to senior posts in his military and administration. Al-Jazzar attempted to develop the areas under his control by improving road security and maintaining order. However, his domestic military expeditions and stringently enforced and exploitative taxation policies precipitated high emigration, although the cities of Acre and Beirut prospered. The former became a powerful regional center rivaling Damascus and until today contains many architectural works commissioned by al-Jazzar, such as its walls, the el-Jazzar Mosque and the Khan al-Umdan caravanserai.

Al-Jazzar (possibly born 'Ahmed Pervan') was a Bosniak. He was born to a poor family in the Sanjak of Herzegovina. Native writers from Bosnia and Herzegovina hold that he was born in Fatnica to the Bosniak Pervan family, and thus claim that Ahmed Pervan was his birth name. Kosta Hörmann, founder and first editor of the Gazette of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in his study of folk tales of the Bosniaks of Herzegovina, noted that the "old folk" of Stolac claimed that Ahmed was a Pervan from Fatnica. Hörmann noted that Ahmed likely never disclosed information about his family himself One source lists the year of his birth as 1720, but Philipp believes it is more likely that he was born in the 1730s.

At the age of 20, or in his late adolescent years, around 1755, he moved to Constantinople. In al-Jazzar's biography by Volney in Voyage, al-Jazzar fled Bosnia at the age of 16 because he raped his sister-in-law, while in Olivier's account, al-Jazzar fled at age 17 after stabbing a woman who did not accede to his desires. According to Olivier, he then began work as a sailor and drifted throughout Anatolia before selling himself to a Turkish slave trader. Al-Jazzar subsequently converted to Islam in Egypt.

In 1756, al-Jazzar departed Constantinople for Egypt with Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha as a barber in his entourage. Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha had been appointed beylerbey (governor) of Egypt Eyalet and al-Jazzar became a member of his household, serving Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha in the citadel. In 1758, possibly as a result of a dispute with another of Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha's men or upon his own intuition, he accompanied Salih Bey al-Qasimi, a Mamluk and the amir al-hajj (commander of the Hajj caravan) to Mecca. There, the two men developed a close friendship, and al-Jazzar subsequently entered into the service of Salih Bey. After returning to Cairo, al-Jazzar, entered the service of the Mamluk Abdullah Bey, who was a retainer of another Mamluk, Ali Bey al-Kabir, the shaykh al-balad, a powerful post in Egypt with unclear duties, between 1760 and 1766.

During his time in Abdullah Bey's service, al-Jazzar learned how to speak Arabic, learned the skills and knowledge of the Mamluks and adopted their dress. When Abdullah Bey was later killed in an attack by Bedouin tribesmen, al-Jazzar decided to avenge his death. He proceeded to set a trap for the Bedouin and ambushed them, killing around 70 tribesmen. Thereafter, he became known as "al-Jazzar", which means "the Butcher" in Arabic. While later European writers believed al-Jazzar gained his name because of his cruel nature, the name was given to him as a sign of respect. The term "al-Jazzar" as an epithet was typically reserved for those who slaughtered Bedouin raiders.

Al-Jazzar arrived in Egypt as a freeman and was not a mamluk (manumitted slave soldier) in the traditional sense. However, the respect and admiration he gained from the Mamluks of Egypt for his loyalty to his Mamluk master and the revenge he took on the Bedouin for his death earned him a welcoming into the Mamluk ranks. Among those impressed with the loyalty and courage of al-Jazzar was Ali Bey al-Kabir, who adopted al-Jazzar as his protégé. Ali Bey appointed al-Jazzar sanjak-bey (district governor) of Cairo, and he became known as "Ahmad Bey al-Jazzar". Al-Jazzar was tasked with enforcing law and order in the province, but was also assigned to discreetly eliminate Ali Bey's enemies. He shared this task with Abu al-Dhahab at times.