Al-Uqud al-Durriyya - Ibn Abd al-Hadi - (الكتاب/227)

that he came to the Shaykh during that period, acknowledged his virtue, rectitude, and his sincere counsel for Allah, His Messenger, and the believers (1).

He said: Thereafter Allah—glorified be He—drove forward the formidable Egyptian army of Islam, together with the Commander of the Faithful, the Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir, the holders of authority (2), the commanders of the host, the grandees of the realm, and every last Egyptian emir, propelling the armies of Islam in swift march to meet the already-routed Tatars. The aforementioned Shaykh met with the Caliph, the Sultan, the men vested with decision, and the leading emirs, one and all (3).

All of them (4) were encamped at Marj al-Suffar, south of protected Damascus, and less than the distance of three hours’ travel lay between them and the Tatars.

Between the Shaykh and those assembled there occurred the same interchange that had taken place between him and the Syrians; he was among them and with them as though he were one (5) of their own notables. From this gathering he attained what none of his peers had ever attained before: they all came together, in their entirety, in a single place, on a single day, for a matter that united them with him—a weighty, momentous affair in which they were in need (6) of hearing his words. This was a tremendous divine facilitation granted to him by Allah Most High; the like of it had never occurred before.

(1) MS Q reads: “tilka hadhihi al-mudda” (lit. “that is this period”). (2) MSS B and Q read: “wa-l-umara” (the emirs) instead of “wulat al-amr” (the authorities). (3) The words “bi-juyush … akhirahum” are absent from MS F. (4) MS Q reads: “wa kallamahum” (and spoke to them). (5) Most copies have “wa baynahum” (and between them); MS K instead reads: “ma dara bayna al-shamiyyin wa baynahu, wa kana baynahum wa maʿahum ka ahad …” (“what passed between the Damascenes and him; there was between them, and with them, like one …”), while MSS B and Q read: “wa kana maʿahum …” (“and he was with them …”). (6) MS Q reads: “minhum yahtajun” (“some of them are in need”).

واجتمع بالشيخ في تلك المدّة (١)، واعتقد خيرَه وصلاحَه ونصحَه لله ولرسوله وللمؤمنين. قال: ثم ساق الله ــ سبحانه ــ جيش الإسلام العَرَمْرَم المصريِّ، صحبةَ أمير المؤمنين والسلطان الملك الناصر، وولاة الأمر (٢)، وزعماء الجيش، وعظماء المملكة، والأمراء المصريين عن آخرهم، بجيوش الإسلام= سَوقًا حثيثًا للقاء التتار المخذولين، فاجتمع الشيخ المذكور بالخليفة والسلطان، وأرباب الحلِّ والعقد، وأعيان الأُمراء عن آخرهم (٣). وكلُّهم (٤) بمَرْجِ الصُّفَّر قِبْليَّ دمشق المحروسة، وبينهم وبين التتار أقل من مقدار ثلاث ساعات مسافةً. ودار بين الشيخ المذكور وبينهم ما دار بينه وبين الشاميين، وكان منهم وبينهم كأحد (٥) أعيانهم. واتفق له من اجتماعهم مالم يتفق لأحد قبله من أبناء جنسه، حيث اجتمعوا بجملتهم في مكانٍ واحدٍ في يومٍ واحد، على أمرٍ جامعٍ لهم وله، مهمٍّ عظيمٍ يحتاجون (٦) فيه إلى سماع كلامه. هذا توفيقٌ عظيم كان من الله تعالى له، لم يتفق لمثله.

(١) (ق): «تلك هذه المدة»! (٢) (ب، ق): «والأمراء» بدل «ولاة الأمر». (٣) «بجيوش ... آخرهم» سقط من (ف). (٤) (ق): «وكلمهم». (٥) «وبينهم» من بقية النسخ. (ك): «ما دار بين الشاميين وبينه، وكان بينهم ومعهم كأحد ... ». (ب، ق): «وكان معهم ... ». (٦) (ق): «منهم يحتاجون».