Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (17/485)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

until he left them bleeding. He split al-Naḍrī’s head open, manacled the men and threw them into prison; then, fearing public reproach, he let them go. Shortly afterwards he fell ill in Balkh, travelled on to Ghazna, and died in 387 AH. He entrusted the emirate to his son Ismāʿīl, while Maḥmūd was stationed in Balkh and their brother Naṣr governed Bust. Ismāʿīl had a certain flaw (1); his soldiers grew covetous and mutinied, so he lavished the treasury upon them. Maḥmūd summoned his uncle, they reached an agreement, and Naṣr joined them. The three advanced on Ghazna, besieged it, and Ismāʿīl with another brother drew up a fearsome battle line. Many were killed. Ismāʿīl was put to flight, then sought and was granted safe-conduct, after which he was detained in honourable, comfortable custody.

Maḥmūd next fought the Samanid deputies, and the surrounding kings were overawed by him. He took possession of the province of Khurāsān, and al-Qādir bi-Llāh sent him the robes of sultanate. Maḥmūd bound himself to mount a campaign in India every year; he conquered vast territories and shattered the idol of Somnath, which the Indian unbelievers believed brought life and death. They made pilgrimage to it and offered it precious gifts, so that its endowments reached ten thousand villages and its treasuries overflowed with every kind of wealth. Two thousand Brahmins served it, together with a hundred troupes of male and female musicians. Between the lands of Islam and the fortress housing this idol lay a desert nearly a month across, yet the sultan set out with thirty thousand men, and by God’s grace the fortress was taken in three days. Maḥmūd acquired riches beyond calculation.

It is said that the idol was a stone of extreme hardness, five cubits tall, with about two cubits sunk into the foundations. The sultan burned it and set a fragment of it into the threshold of the congregational mosque of Ghazna. In the idol’s ear they found a little over thirty rings, each one, they claimed, marking a thousand years of its worship (2).

(1) Ibn Khallikan notes that the man was gentle and feeble, while al-Subki states that Ismail was cowardly. (2) See al-Kamil, vol. 9, pp. 130–131, 139, 146, 148, 206–207, 244, 342–346; al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafiiyya, vol. 5, pp. 317–318; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 5, pp. 176–179; Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, vol. 8, pp. 52–53; Ibn Taghri-Birdi, al-Nujum al-Zahira, vol. 4, p. 266, and consult the editor’s marginal note there.

أَدمَاهُم، وَشجَّ النَّضْرِيَّ، وَقيَّدهُم وَسَجَنَهُم، ثُمَّ أَطلقهُم خوفَ الملاَمَة، ثُمَّ تمرَّض ببَلْخ، وَسَارَ إِلَى غَزْنَة، فَمَاتَ سَنَةَ سَبْعٍ وَثَمَانِيْنَ وَثَلاَثِ مائَةٍ، وَعَهِدَ بِالإِمرَة إِلَى ابْنِهِ إِسْمَاعِيْل، وَكَانَ مَحْمُوْدٌ ببَلْخ، وَكَانَ أَخُوْهُمَا نَصْرٌ عَلَى بُسْت، وَكَانَ فِي إِسْمَاعِيْل خَلَّة (١) ، فَطَمِعَ فِيْهِ جُنْدِهِ، وَشغَّبُوا، فَأَنفق فِيْهِم خزَائِنَ، فَدَعَا مَحْمُوْدٌ عَمَّه، فَاتفقَا، وَأَتَاهُمَا نَصْرٌ، فَقصدُوا غَزْنَة، وَحَاصرُوهَا، وَعمل هُوَ وَأَخُوْهُ مَصَافّاً مَهُولاً، وَقُتِلَ خَلْقٌ، فَانهزم إِسْمَاعِيْلُ، ثُمَّ آمن إِسْمَاعِيْلَ، وَحَبَسَهُ مُعَزَّزاً مُرَفَّهاً، ثُمَّ حَارب مَحْمُوْدٌ النَّوَّاب السَّامَانيَّة، وَخَافته المُلُوكُ. وَاسْتَوْلَى عَلَى إِقلِيم خُرَاسَان، وَنفَّذ إِلَيْهِ القَادِرُ بِاللهِ خِلَع السَّلْطَنَة، فَفَرضَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ كُلَّ سَنَة غَزْوَ الهِنْدِ، فَافْتَتَحَ بلاَداً شَاسعَةً، وَكسر الصَّنَم سُومنَات؛ الَّذِي كَانَ يَعْتَقِدُ كَفَرَةُ الهِنْد أَنَّهُ يُحْيَى وَيُمِيت وَيَحُجُّونه، وَيُقَرِّبُوْنَ لَهُ النَّفَائِسَ، بحيثُ إِنَّ الوُقُوْفَ عَلَيْهِ بلغتْ عَشْرَةَ آلاَف قريَة، وَامتلأَت خزَائِنُه مِنْ صنُوف الأَمْوَالِ، وَفِي خِدْمَته مِنَ البَرَاهُمَة أَلْفَا نَفْس، وَمائَةُ جَوْقَة مغَانِي رِجَال وَنسَاء، فَكَانَ بَيْنَ بلاَدِ الإِسْلاَم وَبَيْنَ قلعَة هَذَا الصَّنَم مفَازَةٌ نَحْو شَهْر، فَسَارَ السُّلْطَانُ فِي ثَلاَثِيْنَ أَلْفاً، فيسَّرَ اللهُ فتحَ القلعَةِ فِي ثَلاَثَة أَيَّام، وَاسْتَوْلَى مَحْمُوْدٌ عَلَى أَمْوَالٍ لاَ تُحصَى، وَقِيْلَ: كَانَ حَجَراً شَدِيدَ الصَّلاَبَة طولُه خَمْسَةُ أَذْرُع، مُنَزَّلٌ مِنْهُ فِي الأَسَاس نَحْو ذرَاعِين، فَأَحرقه السُّلْطَانُ، وَأَخَذَ مِنْهُ قطعَةً بنَاهَا فِي عتبَة بَابِ جَامعِ غَزْنَة، وَوجدُوا فِي أُذُن الصَّنَم نَيِّفاً وَثَلاَثِيْنَ حَلْقَةً؛ كُلُّ حَلْقَةٍ يَزْعُمُوْنَ أَنَّهَا عبَادَتُهُ أَلفَ سَنَة (٢) .

(١) قال ابن خلكان: وكان فيه لين ورخاوة. وقال السبكي: وكان إسماعيل جبانا. (٢) انظر " الكامل " ٩ / ١٣٠، ١٣١ و١٣٩ و١٤٦ و١٤٨ و٢٠٦، ٢٠٧ و٢٤٤ و٣٤٢ - ٣٤٦، و" طبقات " السبكي ٥ / ٣١٧، ٣١٨، و" وفيات الأعيان " ٥ / ١٧٦ - ١٧٩، و" المنتظم " ٨ / ٥٢، ٥٣، و" النجوم الزاهرة " ٤ / ٢٦٦ وانظر فيه الحاشية التي كتبها محققه.