Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (19/60)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

he has come down to us seeking safety; let not the tribes say that we have killed our guest.’

Al-Muʿtaḍid then awoke and stood up; they kissed his head, and he asked the chamberlain, ‘Where are we?’
‘Among your kinsmen and brothers,’ the man replied.

‘Bring me an inkwell,’ al-Muʿtaḍid said. He thereupon wrote to each of them granting a robe of honor, a sum of money, horses, and servants, sending their own pages with him to collect the gifts. He mounted, and they walked at his side in attendance.

Yet he repaid them with the worst treachery. A few months later he invited them to a banquet; sixty of them came. He treated them generously, lodged them in a bathhouse, and had it sealed with plaster over them, sparing no one but Muʿādh. Turning to him he said, ‘Do not be alarmed; their appointed terms had come. Had it not been for you, they would have killed me. If you wish me to share my realm with you, I will do so.’

Muʿādh answered, ‘Rather, I shall stay with you, for with what face could I return now that you have slain the chiefs of the Banū Barzāl?’ He therefore made Muʿādh one of his principal commanders, and he remained among al-Muʿtamid’s leading generals.

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn ʿAlī relates in his History (1) that al-Muʿtaḍid claimed that the Umayyad caliph al-Muʾayyad bi-Ll āh Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam al-Marwānī had come to him, and for a time he had the Friday sermon delivered in the caliph’s name. What drove him to this stratagem was the unrest of the people of Seville: they were offended at remaining without a caliph, and he had heard that they were seeking an Umayyad. So he announced, ‘Al-Muʾayyad is with me,’ and a number of people attested to the claim, saying that he served as his chamberlain. He ordered that supplication be made for him in the Friday prayers, and this continued until he informed the populace of the caliph’s death in 455 AH, asserting that the latter had invested him with the caliphate.

This is sheer nonsense, for al-Muʾayyad had died a little after 400 AH; had he lived until that date he would have been one hundred and one years old (2).

(1) This refers to Al-Muʿjib fi Talkhis Akhbar al-Maghrib by ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn ʿAli al-Tamimi al-Marrakushi (d. 647 AH/1249 CE). The author finished it in 621 AH/1224 CE. It was published in Cairo, edited by the distinguished scholar and littérateur Saʿid al-ʿAryan. See pp. 141–142 for the present account. (2) The compiler has already treated al-Muʾayyad’s disappearance, alleged reappearance, and the conflicting reports about his death in volume 17, entry 354, within the biography of Ibn ʿAbbad, the father of al-Muʿtadid.

وَنَزَلَ بِنَا مُسْتَأْمِناً، لاَ تَتحدّث عَنَّا القبَائِلُ أَنَّا قتلنَا ضَيْفَنَا، ثُمَّ انْتَبه وَقَامَ، فَقبَّلُوا رَأْسه، وَقَالَ لِلْحَاجِبِ: أَيْنَ نَحْنُ؟ قَالَ: بَيْنَ أَهْلك وَإِخْوَانِك. قَالَ: هَاتُوا دوَاة، فَكَتَبَ لِكُلِّ مِنْهُم بِخِلْعَةٍ وَمَالٍ وَأَفرَاسٍ وَخَدَمٍ، وَأَخَذَ مَعَهُ غِلمَانهُم لِقبض ذَلِكَ، وَركب، فَمَشَوا فِي خِدمته. لَكِن أَسَاء كُلَّ الإِسَاءة؛ طَلَبهُم بَعْدَ أَشهرٍ لِوليمَة، فَأَتَاهُ سِتُّوْنَ مِنْهُم، فَأَكْرَمَهُم، وَأَنْزَلهُم حَمَّاماً وَطَيَّنه عَلَيْهِم سِوَى مُعَاذ، وَقَالَ لِمُعَاذ: لَمْ تُرَعْ، حَضَرَتْ آجَالُهُم، وَلَولاَكَ لَقَتلونِي، فَإِنْ أَردتَ أَنْ أُقَاسمك مُلكِي، فَعَلت. قَالَ: بَلْ أُقيم عِنْدَك، وَإِلاَّ بِأَيِّ وَجه أَرجعُ، وَقَدْ قتلتَ سَادَات بَنِي بِرْزَال، فَصَيَّره مِنْ كِبَارِ قُوَّاده، وَكَانَ مِنْ كِبَارِ قُوَّاد المُعْتَمد. وَحَكَى عبد الوَاحِد بن عَلِيٍّ فِي (تَارِيْخِهِ (١)) :أَنَّ المُعْتَضِدَ ادَّعَى أَنَّهُ وَقَعَ إِلَيْهِ المُؤَيَّدُ بِاللهِ هِشَام بنُ الحَكَمِ المَرْوَانِي، فَخطب لَهُ مُدَّة بِالخِلاَفَةِ، وَحَمله عَلَى تَدبِير هَذِهِ الحيلَة اضْطِرَابُ أَهْل إِشبيليَة عَلَيْهِ؛ أَنِفُوا مِنْ بَقَائِهِم بِلاَ خَلِيْفَة، وَبَلَغَهُ أَنَّهُم يَتَطَلَّبُوْنَ أُمَوِيّاً، فَقَالَ: فَالمُؤَيَّدُ عِنْدِي، وَشَهِدَ لَهُ جَمَاعَة بِذَلِكَ، وَأَنَّهُ كَالحَاجِب لَهُ، وَأَمر بِالدُّعَاء لَهُ فِي الجُمَعِ، وَدَام إِلَى أَنْ نَعَاهُ لِلنَّاسِ سَنَة خَمْسٍ وَخَمْسِيْنَ وَأَرْبَعِ مائَةٍ، وَادَّعَى أَنَّهُ عَهِدَ إِلَيْهِ بِالخِلاَفَةِ. وَهَذَا هَذِيَان، وَالمُؤَيَّدُ هَلَكَ سَنَة نَيِّفٍ وَأَرْبَع مائَة، وَلَوْ كَانَ بَقِيَ إِلَى هَذَا الوَقْت، لَكَانَ ابْنَ مائَة سَنَةٍ وَسَنَة (٢) .

(١) هو " المعجب في تلخيص أخبار المغرب " لعبد الواحد بن علي التميمي المراكشي المتوفى سنة ٦٤٧ هـ، فرغ من تأليفه سنة ٦٢١ هـ، وقد طبع بمصر بتحقيق الأستاذ الفاضل الأديب سعيد العريان ﵀، وانظر الخبر فيه ص ١٤١ - ١٤٢. (٢) وقد ذكر المؤلف اختفاء المؤيد وظهوره والاختلاف في أمر وفاته في الجزء السابع عشر في ترجمة ابن عباد والد المتعضد برقم (٣٥٤) .