Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (23/371)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

264 – al-Duwaydar, Mujāhid al-Din Aybak al-Duwaydar al-Ṣaghīr
Known as al-Malik and Commander of the Army of Iraq.

He was counted among the celebrated heroes and renowned champions, and he would declare: “Were the Commander of the Faithful al-Mustaʿṣim to give me full authority, I would rout the Tatars and make Hülegü himself fight for his life.”

Passionately devoted to alchemy, he set aside a spacious wing of his residence for the purpose, stocked with craftsmen and scholars to pursue the art—though real success eluded them. Our shaykh Muḥyī al-Din ibn al-Naḥḥās related:

“I once went to him as an envoy. The Duwaydar showed me the alchemy workshop and told me this story: ‘A poor man came up to me and said, “O king, take this mithqāl and throw it on ten thousand mithqāls; the whole will turn to gold.” I did as he said and his words proved true. I met him again after some time and asked, “Teach me the craft.” He replied, “I do not know it myself. A righteous man gave me five mithqāls: I gave you one, the king of India one, two to others, and I live on the one that remains.”’

“The Duwaydar then showed me a piece of steel that had been heated; a Maghribī had cast something upon it so that the heated portion became gold while the rest stayed steel.”

Al-Kāzarūnī (1) informed me that when the caliph was killed, a number of his uncles and sons were slain with him, as well as Ibn al-Jawzī and Mujāhid al-Din al-Duwaydar—who had married the daughter of Badr al-Din, ruler of Mosul. The heads of the Duwaydar, King Sulaymān Shāh, and the amir of the pilgrimage, Falak al-Din, were carried off and set up in Mosul.

(*) Al-Fakhri fi al-Adab al-Sultaniyya (ed. Sabiḥ), p. 271; Al-Hawadith al-Jamiʿa, p. 328; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam (Aya Sofya MS 3013), vol. 20, folio attached to fol. 162; Dawal al-Islam, 2/122; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, 9/475–476, no. 4432; Uyoon al-Tawarikh, 20/124; al-ʿAsjad al-Masbuk, p. 633. (1) We could not find this report in the work published under the title Mukhtasar al-Tarikh attributed to Ibn al-Kazaruni.

٢٦٤ - الدُّوَيدَارُ مُجَاهِدُ الدِّيْنِ أَيْبَكُ الدُّوَيدَارُ الصَّغِيْرُ * الملكُ، مُقَدَّم جَيْش العِرَاق، مُجَاهِد الدِّيْنِ أَيْبَك الدُّوَيدَار الصَّغِيْر. أَحدُ الأَبْطَالِ المَذْكُوْرِيْنَ وَالشُّجْعَانِ المَوْصُوْفِيْن الَّذِي كَانَ يَقُوْلُ: لَوْ مَكَّننِي أَمِيْرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ المُسْتَعْصِم، لَقَهَرتُ التَّتَار، وَلَشغلتُ هُوْلاَكُو بِنَفْسِهِ. وَكَانَ مُغرَى بِالكيمِيَاء، لَهُ بَيْت كَبِيْر فِي دَارِهِ فِيْهَا عِدَّة مِنَ الصُّنَّاعِ وَالفُضَلاَء لِعمل الكيمِيَاءِ، وَلاَ تَصِحّ؛ فَحكَى شَيْخنَا مُحْيِي الدِّيْنِ ابْن النَّحَّاسِ، قَالَ: مَضَيْت رَسُوْلاً، فَأَرَانِي الدُّوَيدَار دَار الكيمِيَاء، وَحَدَّثَنِي، قَالَ: عَارضنِي فَقير، وَقَالَ: يَا مَلِكُ، خُذْ هَذَا المثقَالَ، وَأَلقِهِ عَلَى عَشْرَة آلاَف مِثقَالٍ يَصِيْر الكُلّ ذَهَباً. فَفَعَلتُ، فَصحَّ قَوْلُهُ، ثُمَّ لَقِيْتُهُ بَعْد مُدَّةٍ، فَقُلْتُ: عَلِّمنِي الصَّنْعَة. قَالَ: لاَ أَعْرفهَا، لَكِن رَجُلٌ صَالِحٌ أَعْطَانِي خَمْسَة مَثَاقيلَ، فَأَعْطيتك مثقَالاً، وَلِمَلِكِ الهِنْدِ مِثقَالاً، وَلآخَرِيْنَ مِثقَالَيْنِ، وَبَقِيَ لِي مِثقَالٌ أُنفق مِنْهُ. ثُمَّ أَرَانِي الدُّوَيدَار قطعَة فُولاَذ قَدْ أُحْمِيَتْ، وَأَلقَى عَلَيْهَا مَغْرِبِيٌّ شَيْئاً، فَصَارَ مَا حَمَى مِنْهَا ذهباً وَبَاقيهَا فُولاَذ. قَالَ الكَازَرُوْنِيّ (١) فِيمَا أَنْبَأَنِي: إِنَّ الخَلِيْفَةَ قُتِلَ مَعَهُ عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَعمَامِه وَأَوْلاَدِه وَابْن الجَوْزِيِّ وَمُجَاهِد الدِّيْنِ الدُّوَيدَار الَّذِي تَزَوَّجَ بِبنتِ بَدْر الدِّيْنِ صَاحِب المَوْصِل، وَحُمِلَ رَأْسه وَرَأْس الْملك سُلَيْمَان شَاه وَأَمِيْر الحَجِّ فَلكِ الدِّيْنِ، فَنُصبُوا بِالمَوْصِلِ.

(*) الفخري في الآداب السلطانية (صبيح) : ٢٧١، الحوادث الجامعة: ٣٢٨، تاريخ الإسلام للذهبي (أيا صوفيا ٣٠١٣) ج ٢٠ الورقة الملحقة بالورقة ١٦٢، دول الإسلام ٢ / ١٢٢، الوافي بالوفيات: ٩ / ٤٧٥ - ٤٧٦ الترجمة ٤٤٣٢، عيون التواريخ ٢٠ / ١٢٤، العسجد المسبوك: ٦٣٣. (١) لم نجد هذا النقل في ما طبع باسم مختصر التاريخ لابن الكازروني.