Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (22/212)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

—a migration we pray will be accepted—and my children, whose very faces I have exposed to the enemy. Here we draw the line; the affair is Allah’s before and after.

From another dispatch to the Dīwān (1): Islam now faces an enemy who finds death sweet, who has left wife and kin at the bidding of his priest, out of zeal for his shrine and mad devotion to their dunghill (2). A queen of theirs even marched out with five hundred fighting men, pledging to meet all their expenses, but the Muslims seized her and her troops near Alexandria. The veiled women were themselves veiled and mailed, bearing tawāriq and qubṭariyyāt, and several of them were counted among the dead. The Pope of Rome has decreed that anyone who fails to set out for Jerusalem is accursed—denied marriage and sustenance—so they swarm toward the Holy Land and fling themselves toward their promised day. He has told them: “I shall come in the spring, rallying all to arms. When I rise, none may remain behind, and all who say that God has a son will march with me.”

From yet another letter (3): God forbid that He should open lands to us only to close them again, or that Jerusalem should surrender at our hands only for us to forsake it. God forbid that we should be denied victory or lose the strength to endure: “So do not weaken and call for peace when you are the uppermost, and Allah is with you” (4).

I am no champion who conquers his peer—
It is Islam that routs idolatry.

He went on to say: The current report is that the king of the Germans set out with two hundred thousand men and now has fewer than five thousand.

(1) For the complete text of the letter, see Abu Shama, Al-Rawdatayn, pp. 161–162. (2) That is, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (3) For the full text, see Abu Shama, Al-Rawdatayn, pp. 167–168. (4) Qur’an, surah Muhammad (47):35; I have added from the continuation of the verse the phrase, “while you are the superior ones.”

هِجْرَةً نَرجوهَا مَقْبُوْلَةً، وَوُلْدِي وَقَدْ بذلتُ لِلْعدوِّ صفحَاتِ وُجُوْهِهِم، وَنقفُ عِنْد هَذَا الحدِّ، وَللهِ الأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ بَعْدُ) . وَمِنْ كتاب إِلَى الدِّيْوَانِ (١) : قَدْ بُلِيَ الإِسْلاَمُ مِنْهُم بِقَوْمٍ اسْتطَابُوا المَوْتَ، وَفَارقُوا الأَهْلَ طَاعَةً لقسيسِهِم، وَغِيرَةً لِمَعْبَدِهِم، وَتهَالُكاً عَلَى قُمَامتِهِم (٢) ، حَتَّى لسَارَتْ ملكَةٌ مِنْهُم بِخَمْسِ مائَةِ مُقَاتِلٍ التّزمتْ بنفقَاتِهِم، فَأَخَذَهَا المُسْلِمُوْنَ برِجَالهَا بِقُرْبِ الإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةِ، فَذوَاتُ المقَانِعِ مقنَّعَاتٌ دَارعَاتٌ، تحمل الطّوَارقَ وَالقبطَارِيَاتِ، وَوجدْنَا مِنْهُم عِدَّةً بَيْنَ القَتْلَى، وَبَابَا روميةَ حَكَمَ بِأَنَّ مَنْ لاَ يَتوجَّهُ إِلَى القُدْسِ فَهُوَ مُحرَّمٌ، لاَ مَنْكِحَ لَهُ وَلاَ مَطْعَمَ، فَلِهَذَا يَتهَافتُوْنَ عَلَى الوُرودِ، وَيَتهَالكُوْنَ عَلَى يَوْمِهِمُ الموعُوْدِ، وَقَالَ لَهُم: إِنَّنِي وَاصِلٌ فِي الرَّبِيْعِ، جَامِعٌ عَلَى اسْتنفَارِ الجَمِيْعِ، وَإِذَا نَهَضَ، فَلاَ يَقعدُ عَنْهُ أَحَدٌ، وَيَقْبَلُ مَعَهُ كُلُّ مَنْ قَالَ: للهِ وَلَدٌ. وَمِنْ كِتَابٍ (٣) : وَمَعَاذَ اللهِ أَنْ يَفتحَ اللهُ عَلَيْنَا البِلاَدَ ثُمَّ يغلقُهَا، وَأَنْ يُسلمَ عَلَى يَدَيْنَا القُدْسَ ثُمَّ ننصرَه، ثُمَّ مَعَاذَ اللهِ أَن نغلبَ عَنِ النَّصْرِ أَوْ أَنْ نُغْلَبَ عَنِ الصَّبْرِ: ﴿فَلاَ تَهِنُوا وَتَدْعُوا إِلَى السَّلْمِ، وَأَنْتُمُ الأَعْلَوْنَ، وَاللهُ مَعَكُمْ (٤) ﴾ . وَلَسْتُ بِقَرْمٍ هَازِمٍ لِنَظِيرِهِ ... وَلَكِنَّهُ الإِسْلاَمُ لِلشِّرْكِ هَازمُ إِلَى أَنْ قَالَ: وَالمَشْهُوْرُ الآنَ أَنَّ ملكَ الأَلمَانِ خَرَجَ فِي مائَتَيْ أَلفٍ، وَأَنَّهُ الآنَ فِي دُوْنِ خَمْسَةِ آلاَفٍ.

(١) انظر نص الكتاب كاملا في الروضتين: ١٦١ - ١٦٢. (٢) يعني: كنيسة القيامة. (٣) انظر النص كاملا في الروضتين: ١٦٧ - ١٦٨. (٤) سورة محمد: ٣٥ وأتممت من القرآن الكريم " وأنتم الاعلون ".