Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (21/76)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

The vizier was deeply devoted to the scholars and the people of Sufism, showering them with favors. He and his sons busied themselves with hadith, jurisprudence, and belles-lettres, and the populace lived with them in a state of carefree prosperity (1). Later, however, frictions and quarrels arose between him and Qutb al-Din Qaymaz.

I (the author) say: He was removed from office (2), then reinstated (3) and firmly re-established. After that he prepared for the pilgrimage and, on the fourth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah (4), set out in splendid procession. At the gate of Qatufṭā (5) a Batinī (Ismaʿili assassin) struck him four times, and he died that very day in the year 573 AH. He had outfitted six hundred camels, endowing one hundred of them for charity. As he attacked, the assassin cried, “Wronged! Wronged!”

The man drew nearer; the pages tried to drive him away, but the vizier said, “Leave him.” The assassin stepped forward and stabbed him in the side with a dagger. The vizier shouted, “He has killed me!” and collapsed; his head was uncovered, so he drew his sleeve over it. The Batinī then brandished a sword and struck again; the attendants cut him down with their blades. Two accomplices were with him and they were burned. The vizier was carried into a nearby house, and the chamberlain was wounded (6).

The vizier had seen in a dream that he was embracing ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—and, his son related, he had performed a ritual bath before

(1) Balahniyya, with a ḍamma on the initial b, means prosperity and ease. (2) Ibn al-Dubaythi writes: “He remained in office, though enemies strove to undo him. The caliph al-Mustadi bi-Amr Allah kept shielding him until they attained their goal: on 10 Shawwal 567 AH he was dismissed and confined to his house. They then pursued him relentlessly, harassing him until he had to leave his dwelling with his family and take refuge in the Tahiri Harem on the western bank.” (Tarikh, 2 / biography 220). (3) This departure occurred in Dhu al-Qaʿda 570 AH, as stated in the foregoing Tarikh of Ibn al-Dubaythi and in Ibn al-Kaziruni’s Mukhtasar al-Tarikh, pp. 240–241. (4) The year was 573 AH; Ibn al-Dubaythi specifies the fifth of Dhu al-Qaʿda. (5) Qatfita—fatḥa on the qaf, ḍamma on the fa, with a quiescent fa—is the name of a village that once bordered the cemetery of Shaykh Maʿruf al-Karkhi; by that period it had become a well-known quarter on Baghdad’s western side. (6) The person meant is the chamberlain of the palace, Abu Saʿd ibn al-Muʿawwij. Full details of the incident are found in Ibn al-Jawzi’s al-Muntazam and in the Tarikh of Ibn al-Dubaythi.

وَكَانَ الوَزِيْر ذَا انصبَاب إِلَى أَهْلِ العِلْمِ وَالتَصَوُّف، يُسبغ عَلَيْهِم النِّعَم، وَيَشتغل هُوَ وَأَوْلاَده بِالحَدِيْثِ وَالفِقْه وَالأَدب، وَكَانَ النَّاسُ مَعَهُم فِي بُلَهْنِيَّةٍ (١) ، ثُمَّ وَقعتْ كدورَات وَإِحن بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ قُطْب الدِّيْنِ قَايْمَاز. قُلْتُ: وَقَدْ عُزِلَ (٢) ، ثُمَّ أُعيد (٣) ، وَتَمَكَّنَ، ثُمَّ تَهَيَّأَ لِلْحَجِّ، وَخَرَجَ فِي رَابع ذِي القَعْدَةِ (٤) فِي مَوْكِب عَظِيْم، فَضَرَبَه باطنِيٌّ عَلَى بَاب قَطُفْتَا (٥) أَرْبَع ضربَات، وَمَاتَ ليَوْمه مِنْ سَنَةِ ثَلاَثٍ وَسَبْعِيْنَ، وَكَانَ قَدْ هَيَّأَ سِتّ مائَة جمل، سبَّل مِنْهَا مائَة، صَاح البَاطِنِيُّ: مَظْلُوْم! مَظْلُوْم! وَتَقرّب، فَزجره الغلمَان، فَقَالَ: دعُوْهُ. فَتَقَدَّم إِلَيْهِ، فَضَرَبَه بِسكين فِي خَاصرته، فَصَاح الوَزِيْر: قَتَلنِي، وَسقط، وَانْكَشَفَ رَأْسه، فَغطَى رَأْسه بكمّه، وَضرب البَاطِنِيُّ بِسيف، فَعَاد وَضرب الوَزِيْر، فَهبّروهُ بِالسُّيوف، وَكَانَ مَعَهُ اثْنَانِ، فَأُحرقُوا، وَحُمِلَ الوَزِيْر إِلَى دَار، وَجُرِحَ الحَاجِب (٦) ، وَكَانَ الوَزِيْر قَدْ رَأَى فِي النَّوْمِ أَنَّهُ معَانق عُثْمَان ﵁ وَحَكَى عَنْهُ ابْنه أَنَّهُ اغْتَسَلَ قَبْل

(١) بلهنية بضم الباء: أي سعة ورفاهية. (٢) قال ابن الدبيثي: (فلم يزل على أمره، وله أعداء يسعون في فساد حاله، والامام المستضئ بأمر الله ﵁ يدفع عنه، حتى تم لهم ما راموه، فعزل في اليوم العاشر من شوال سنة سبع وستين وخمس مئة، ولزم بيته، ثم لم يزالوا متتبعين له، عاملين في أذاه حتى أدت الحال إلى خروجه من داره ومنزله بأهله إلى الحريم الطاهري بالجانب الغربي) (التاريخ: ٢ / الترجمة: ٢٢٠) . (٣) وذلك في ذي القعدة سنة ٥٧٠، كما في (تاريخ) ابن الدبيثي المذكور و (مختصر التاريخ) لابن الكازروني: ص: ٢٤١ ٢٤٠. (٤) سنة ٥٧٣. وفي (تاريخ) ابن الدبيثي: خامس ذي القعدة. (٥) قطفتا: بالفتح ثم الضم والفاء ساكنة: اسم قرية كانت مجاورة لمقبرة الشيخ معروف الكرخي وقد صارت في ذلك التاريخ محلة مشهورة من محال الجانب الغربي. (٦) يعني حاجب الباب، وهو أبو سعد ابن المعوج. وتفاصيل الحادثة في كتاب (المنتظم) لابن الجوزي و (تاريخ) ابن الدبيثي.