201 – al-Masʿūd Aqṣīs ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb

Lord of Yemen, King al-Masʿūd Aqṣīs, son of Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb.

His father equipped him, and he conquered Yemen at the beginning of the year 612 AH (1). He arrested Sulaymān, one of their paternal cousins, and married Jūzā’s daughter—one of the daughters of Sayf al-Islām—whom he loved dearly. He fought the imam of the Zaydiyya several times and prevailed. He appointed the emir ʿUmar ibn Rasūl as his deputy; that emir later seized Yemen for himself and took over Mecca as well. Al-Masʿūd was high-spirited, courageous, reckless, and oppressive. He crushed the Zaydis and the Khārijites. When he heard of the death of his uncle al-Muʿaẓẓam, he resolved to seize Damascus. According to Abū al-Muẓaffar (2), his baggage train filled five hundred pack-animals, accompanied by one thousand servants, one hundred qinṭārs of ambergris and aloeswood, one hundred thousand garments, and one hundred chests of money.

He reached Mecca afflicted by paralysis; and when death approached he said, “By Allah, I am not content that even a shroud should come from my own wealth.” He therefore sent for a poor man and said, “Give me a shroud as charity,” and he was buried in al-Muʿallā.

It has reached me that his father rejoiced at his death. He used to abuse merchants, drink wine in Mecca, and shoot pellet-balls near the Sacred House.

Ibn al-Athīr (3) said: “Ātisiz marched against Mecca, which at that time was held by Ḥasan ibn Qatāda the ʿAlawite, from …”