I add: he was born in 435 AH and died in Shawwal of 511 AH. He was a man of religion, reliability, and adherence to the sunnah (1). He and Abu ʿAli ibn Nabhan—mentioned earlier—passed away on the same night. Among the works he transmitted was the Sunan of al-Daraqutni.
189 – Ibn Suliʿah, Abu Muhammad ʿUbayd Allah ibn Suliʿah*
The amir and judge, Abu Muhammad ʿUbayd Allah ibn Suliʿah, the son of the judge of Jabala. Jabala (2) belonged to the lord of Tripoli, Ibn ʿAmmar, but Ibn Suliʿah—also called Ibn Suliḥah—took up knighthood, and Ibn ʿAmmar grew afraid of him. Ibn Suliʿah therefore rebelled in Jabala, seized it, and fortified it to the utmost. He had the Friday sermon delivered in the name of the Abbasids. The Franks then besieged him, but rumors (3) spread of the approach of Barkiyaruk’s army, so they withdrew. They later returned and confronted him again, whereupon he alarmed them with reports of an impending Egyptian force (4). He then reached an agreement with his Christian subjects that they would show the Franks goodwill and set an appointment with them at a certain tower (5).
(1) Ibn al-Jawzi states in al-Muntazam, 9/194: “He was trustworthy; our own teachers transmitted from him.”
(*) Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 10/310-312; Tatimmat al-Mukhtasar, 2/22.
(2) Jableh: a coastal town in Syria administratively attached to Aleppo, near Latakia. It had been a Byzantine fortress that the Romans evacuated when the Muslims conquered Hims. Muawiya later built an impressive fort on the site of the old Roman citadel. The town remained in Muslim hands until 357 AH/968 CE, was then seized by the Crusader unbelievers and held until 473 AH/1080 CE, returned to Muslim rule and stayed so until 552 AH/1157 CE, after which the Crusaders captured it again and kept it until the victorious king al-Nasir Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi recovered it in 584 AH/1188 CE.
(3) That is, he spread false reports claiming that the Muslims, under the leadership of Barkiyaruk, were coming to his aid, so as to instil fear in the Franks and make them withdraw. The noun *irjaf* (rumour-mongering) derives from the root *rajfa* (tremor, earthquake); it was applied to false news either because such reports are themselves shaky and unfounded, or because they cause the hearts of their hearers to quake. Al-Kamil by Ibn al-Athir, 10/310, records: “He announced that Sultan Barkiyaruk had set out for Syria; this rumour spread, and the Franks departed.”
(4) Al-Kamil adds: “He then spread the rumour that the Egyptians were marching out to fight them, so they withdrew a second time and later returned.”
(5) The continuation of the passage in al-Kamil reads: “…from the towers of the city so that they might hand it over to them and seize it. When the message reached them, they equipped about three hundred of their leading and bravest men….”