Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (22/195)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

and he then set out for Baghdad. His advance detachments reached Hulwan, yet he annihilated them at Balkh, remaining there for twenty days, and they took the lesson to heart. Al-Nasir assembled the army, poured out funds, and prepared for war. News soon arrived that the Turks had massed and coveted the land, so he wheeled round toward them (1) and marched against them; they in turn marched against him, overpowered him, and tore him apart (2), unsettling his wits, scattering his forces, and seizing the provinces. Wherever he turned he found their swords ruling over him; the lands flung him to and fro—east and west, highland and lowland, desert and mountain—until terror shook his very core, and thereupon he met his end.

I said: He and his son Manguberti passed through astonishing episodes and adventures; I possess a separate volume on the matter, composed by al-Nasawi, the chancery scribe (3).

Al-Muwaffaq said: When Shaykh Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi undertook the mission, he addressed Khwarazm-Shah Muhammad in every conceivable way, treating him with courtesy, yet the man only waxed still more insolent (4). As for al-Nasir, he remained in honor, suppressing his adversaries: no rebel rose against him without being crushed, no dissenter without being struck down, no enemy without being frustrated. He was intensely vigilant over his realm; scarcely anything of his subjects’ affairs escaped him. His agents were stationed throughout the provinces so that it was as though he beheld the entire kingdom at a single glance. He possessed subtle stratagems and ruses that no one could detect: he would establish friendship between mutually hostile kings and sow enmity between rulers who were on cordial terms—without their ever perceiving it

(1) i.e. the reference is to Khwarazmshah. (2) Tarikh al-Islam reads: “He moved against them, they moved against him; then they deceived him and overwhelmed him.” (3) This is Shihab al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Nasawi; his work is Sirat al-Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, composed after 639 AH and published by Hafiz Hamdi, Cairo, 1953. (4) Tarikh al-Islam has: “illa tughyanan wa-utuwan” (“nothing but tyranny and insolence”); al-Dhahabi, as is well known, permits himself such modifications.

وَقصد بَغْدَاد، وَوصل بوَادره إِلَى حُلْوَان فَأَهْلكهُم بِبَلْخَ، دَام عِشْرِيْنَ يَوْماً وَاتعظُوا بِذَلِكَ، وَجَمَعَ النَّاصِر الجَيْش، وَأَنفق الأَمْوَال، وَاسْتعدّ، فَجَاءتِ الأَخْبَار أَنَّ التّرك قَدْ حشدُوا، وَطمعُوا فِي البِلاَد، فَكرّ إِلَيْهِم (١) وَقصدهُم فَقصدُوْهُ وَكثروهُ إِلَى أَنْ مزّقوهُ (٢) ، وَبلبلُوا لُبّه وَشتّتُوا شَمله، وَملكُوا الأَقطَار، وَصَارَ أَيْنَ تَوجّه وَجد سيوفهُم متحكمَةً فِيْهِ، وَتَقَاذفتْ بِهِ البِلاَد، فَشرّق وَغرّب، وَأَنجد وَأَسهل، وَأَصحر وَأَجبل، وَالرّعب قَدْ زَلْزَلَ لُبَّهُ، فَعند ذَلِكَ قَضَى نَحْبَه. قُلْتُ: جَرَى لَهُ وَلابْنِهِ منكوبرتي عَجَائِب وَسيرٌ، وَذَلِكَ عِنْدِي فِي مُجَلَّد أَلّفه النَّسَوِيّ كَاتِب الإِنشَاء (٣) . قَالَ المُوَفَّقُ: وَكَانَ الشَّيْخ شِهَاب الدِّيْنِ السُّهْرَوَرْدِيّ لَمّا ذهب فِي الرِّسَالَة خَاطب خُوَارِزْم شَاه مُحَمَّداً بِكُلِّ قَوْل، وَلاَطفه، وَلاَ يَزدَاد إِلاَّ عتُوّاً (٤) ، وَلَمْ يَزَلِ النَّاصِر فِي عزّ وَقمع الأَعْدَاء، وَلاَ خَرَجَ عَلَيْهِ خَارِجِيّ إِلاَّ قمعه، وَلاَ مخَالف إِلاَّ دَمَغَهُ، وَلاَ عَدو إِلاَّ خذل، كَانَ شَدِيد الاهتمَام بِالملك، لاَ يَخفَى عَلَيْهِ كَبِيْر شَيْء مِنْ أُمُوْر رَعيته، أَصْحَاب أَخْبَاره فِي البِلاَد، حَتَّى كَأَنَّهُ شَاهِد جَمِيْع البِلاَد دفعَة وَاحِدَة، كَانَتْ لَهُ حيل لطيفَة، وَخدع لاَ يَفطُنُ إِلَيْهَا أَحَد، يُوقع صدَاقَة بَيْنَ مُلُوْك متعَادِيْنَ، وَيوقع عدَاوَة بَيْنَ مُلُوْك متوَادِّيْنَ وَلاَ يَفطنُوْنَ ... ،

(١) يعني خوارزمشاه. (٢) في تاريخ الإسلام: " فقصدهم فقصدوه ثم كايدوه وكاثروه ". (٣) هو شهاب الدين محمد بن أحمد النسوي، وكتابه هو " سيرة السلطان جلال الدين منكوبري " كتبه بعد سنة ٦٣٩ ونشره حافظ حمدي بالقاهرة سنة ١٩٥٣ م. (٤) في تاريخ الإسلام: " إلا طغيانا وعتوا " والذهبي - كما هو معروف يتصرف -.