Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (21/182)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

ibn Rajjāl ibn Sulṭān al-Anṣārī, the Harrānī.
He was a man of profound spiritual states and extraordinary miracles, of God-conscious devotion, sincerity, chastity, and dignified reserve. Kings used to visit him and seek blessing through his company, and within his town he was the very word of concord. It is said that Sultan Nūr al-Dīn visited him; the shaykh strengthened the ruler’s resolve to wage jihād against the Franks and prayed for his success. Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn likewise sought him out, requesting his supplication. The shaykh advised him not to march on Mosul, but the sultan did not accept the counsel, set out for the city, and failed to take it.

Shaykh Ḥayāt had accompanied Shaykh Ḥusayn al-Bawārī (1), a disciple of Mujallī ibn Yāsīn, and for fifty years he remained constant in his zawiya in Harrān, never missing the congregational prayer except for a lawful excuse. People said he was cheerful-faced, gentle-mannered, tender-hearted, generous and noble, a man of night-long vigils and secluded worship; Harrān produced none like him after his passing. A bound volume containing his life story was kept by his descendants.

He died on the night preceding Wednesday, the last day of Jumada I in 581 AH, at the age of eighty—may Allah Most High have mercy on him.

93 – Abū al-Ḥasan Sinān ibn Salmān ibn Muḥammad al-Baṣrī, the Bāṭinī*—Rāshid al-Dīn, the principal leader of the Ismāʿīlīs and their arch-tyrant, Abū al-Ḥasan Sinān ibn

…and in al-Ibar, vol. 4, p. 243; Ibn al-Imad, al-Shadharat, vol. 4, p. 269. (1) The base manuscript reads “Husayn,” which is most likely a scribal slip. (*) His life and deeds are recorded in the major chronicles of his period, such as Ibn al-Athir’s al-Kamil and Sibt ibn al-Jawzi’s al-Mirat, among others. Al-Dhahabi also devoted to him a separate entry in Tarikh al-Islam, folios 148–152.

بنِ رَجَّالِ بنِ سُلْطَانٍ الأَنْصَارِيُّ، الحَرَّانِيُّ. صَاحِبُ أَحْوَالٍ، وَكَرَامَاتٍ، وَتَأَلُّهٍ، وَإِخْلاَصٍ، وَتعفُّفٍ، وَانقباضٍ. كَانَتِ المُلُوْكُ يَزورُوْنَهُ وَيَتبرَّكُوْنَ بلقَائِهِ، وَكَانَ كلمَةَ وِفَاقٍ بَيْنَ أَهْلِ بلدِهِ. قِيْلَ: إِنَّ السُّلْطَانَ نُوْرَ الدِّيْنِ زَارَهُ، فَقوَّى عَزْمَهُ عَلَى جِهَادِ الفِرنْج، وَدَعَا لَهُ، وَإِنَّ السُّلْطَانَ صَلاَحَ الدِّيْنِ زَارَهُ، وَطلبَ مِنْهُ الدُّعَاءَ، فَأَشَارَ عَلَيْهِ بِترْكِ قصدِ المَوْصِلِ، فَلَمْ يَقبلْ، وَسَارَ إِلَيْهَا فَلَمْ يظفرْ بِهَا. وَكَانَ الشَّيْخُ حَيَاةُ قَدْ صَحِبَ الشَّيْخَ حُسَيْناً (١) البَوَارِيَّ، تِلْمِيْذَ مُجَلِّي بنِ يَاسينَ، وَكَانَ مُلاَزِماً لزَاويتِهِ بِحَرَّانَ، مُنْذُ خَمْسِيْنَ سَنَةً، لَمْ تَفُتْهُ جَمَاعَةٌ إِلاَّ مِنْ عُذرٍ شرعِيٍّ. وَقِيْلَ: إِنَّهُ كَانَ بشوشَ الوَجْهِ، ليِّنَ الجَانبِ، رحيمَ القَلْبِ، سخيّاً، كَرِيْماً، صَاحِبَ ليلٍ، وَتَبَتُّلٍ، لَمْ يُخَلِّفْ بِحَرَّانَ بَعْدَهُ مِثْلَهُ، وَلَهُ (سيرَةٌ) فِي مُجَلَّدٍ كَانَتْ عِنْدَ ذُرِّيَتِهِ. تُوُفِّيَ: فِي لَيْلَةِ الأَرْبعَاءِ، سَلْخَ جُمَادَى الأُوْلَى، سَنَةَ إِحْدَى وَثَمَانِيْنَ وَخَمْسِ مائَةٍ، وَلَهُ ثَمَانُوْنَ سَنَةً -رَحِمَهُ الله تَعَالَى-. ٩٣ - أَبُو الحَسَنِ سِنَانُ بنُ سَلْمَانَ بنِ مُحَمَّدٍ البَصْرِيُّ البَاطِنِيُّ * رَاشِدُ الدِّينِ، كَبِيْرُ الإِسْمَاعِيْلِيَّة وَطَاغوتُهُم، أَبُو الحَسَنِ سِنَانُ بنُ

= والعبر: ٤ / ٢٤٣، وابن العماد في الشذرات: ٤ / ٢٦٩. (١) في الأصل حسين ولعله سبق قلم. (*) أخباره وسيرته في التواريخ المستوعبة لعصره مثل الكامل لابن الأثير والمرآة لسبط ابن الجوزي وغيرهما. وقد أفرد الذهبي له ترجمة في تاريخ الإسلام، الورقة: ١٤٨ - ١٥٢ فصل =