Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (4/146)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

—whichever of the two you choose will suffice.

He smiled and said, “There must be some reason why the man who attains supremacy is granted it.”

I returned to him that evening and found that he had climbed down from his couch, writhing in pain, with physicians gathered around him. I came back the next morning, and the wailing women were mourning his death, while the forelocks of his mounts had already been shorn.

Al-Farazdaq stood by his grave and recited elegiac verses; no one present failed to weep. ⦗1⦘

Khalifah ⦗2⦘ said: He died in Basra in the year 75 AH, at a little over forty years of age.

It is related that he had written to his brother: “You have occupied one of my hands with Iraq, while the other remains idle.”

So his brother appointed him over the Two Sanctuaries and Yemen.

The letter reached him only after an ulcer had appeared in his right hand, and he was told, “Amputate it at the joint.” ⦗3⦘

He recoiled, whereupon the infection reached the elbow; by morning it had reached the shoulder, and he died.

ʿAbd al-Malik grieved for him and ordered the poets to compose elegies. ⦗4⦘

50 – Shabīb ibn Yazīd ibn Abī Nuʿaym al-Shaybānī

The leader of the Khārijites in al-Jazīrah and the foremost horseman of his age. Al-Ḥajjāj sent five commanders against him, and he killed them one after another, then marched on Kūfa,

(1) The full account is given in Ibn Asakir, History of Damascus, vol. 10, ed. Dahman, p. 124; the material placed in brackets here is drawn from that passage. Ibn Asakir also reproduces a section of al-Farazdaq’s elegy, found in his Diwan, 2/268, which includes the following lines: “O my eyes, unless you aid each other in your pain, after Bishr there is neither consolation nor patience. Do you not see that the earth’s mountains have been pulverised, and that the stars of night no longer travel since your departure? If Hind did not mourn him, the Pleiades in their resplendent constellations surely did.” (2) In his History, p. 273. (3) Ibn Asakir’s wording reads: “min mufassal al-kaf” (from the joint of the palm). (4) See Ibn Asakir, vol. 10, p. 127. (*) al-Maarif, p. 410; al-Tabari, History, 6 (events of the years 76–77); al-Masudi, Muruj al-Dhahab, 3/346 ff.; Ibn Hazm, Jamharat Ansab, p. 327; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil, 4 (events of the years 76–77); Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Ayan, 2/454; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 3/160; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 9/19; al-Maqrizi, Khitat, 2/355; Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Nujum al-Zahira, 1/196.

فَعَلْتَ أَجْزَأَ عَنْكَ. فَتَبَسَّمَ، وَقَالَ: لِشَيْءٍ مَا يَسُوْدُ مَنْ يَسُوْدُ. ثُمَّ عُدْتُ إِلَيْهِ مِنَ العَشِيِّ، وَإِذَا هُوَ انْحَدَرَ مِنْ سَرِيْرِهِ يَتمَلْمَلُ وَحَوْلَهُ الأَطِبَّاءُ، ثُمَّ عُدْتُ مِنَ الغَدِ وَالنَّاعِيَةُ تَنْعَاهُ، وَدَوَابُّهُ قَدْ جُزَّتْ نَوَاصِيْهَا. وَوَقَفَ الفَرَزْدَقُ عَلَى قَبْرِهِ، وَرَثَاهُ بِأَبْيَاتٍ، فَمَا بَقِيَ أَحَدٌ إِلاَّ بَكَى (١) . قَالَ خَلِيْفَةُ (٢) : مَاتَ بِالبَصْرَةِ، سَنَةَ خَمْسٍ وَسَبْعِيْنَ، وَلَهُ نَيِّفٌ وَأَرْبَعُوْنَ سَنَةً. وَقِيْلَ: إِنَّهُ كَتَبَ إِلَى أَخِيْهِ: إِنَّكَ شَغَلْتَ إِحْدَى يَدَيَّ بِالعِرَاقِ، وَبَقِيَتِ الأُخْرَى فَارِغَةً. فَكَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ بِوِلاَيَةِ الحَرَمَيْنِ وَاليَمَنِ. فَمَا جَاءهُ الكِتَابُ إِلاَّ وَقَدْ وَقَعَتِ القَرْحَةُ فِي يَمِيْنِهِ، فَقِيْلَ: اقْطَعْهَا مِنَ المَفْصِلِ (٣) . فَجَزِعَ، فَبَلَغَتِ المِرْفَقَ، ثُمَّ أَصْبَحَ وَقَدْ بَلَغتِ الكَتِفَ، وَمَاتَ. فَجَزِعَ عَلَيْهِ عَبْدُ المَلِكِ، وَأَمَرَ الشُّعَرَاءَ فَرَثَوْهُ (٤) . ٥٠ - شَبِيْبُ بنُ يَزِيْدَ * بنِ أَبِي نُعَيْمٍ الشَّيْبَانِيُّ رَأْسُ الخَوَارِجِ بِالجَزِيْرَةِ، وَفَارِسُ زَمَانِهِ. بَعَثَ لِحَرْبِهِ الحَجَّاجُ خَمْسَةَ قُوَّادٍ، فَقَتَلَهُمْ وَاحِداً بَعْدَ وَاحِدٍ، ثُمَّ سَارَ إِلَى الكُوْفَةِ،

(١) الخبر مفصل في " ابن عساكر " المجلدة العاشرة تحقيق دهمان ص ١٢٤، وما بين الحاصرتين منه، وفيه قطعة من مرثية الفرزدق، وهي في الديوان ٢ / ٢٦٨ منها: أعيني إلا تسعداني ألمكما * فما بعد بشر من عزاء ولاصبر ألم تر أن الأرض دكت جبالها * وأن نجوم الليل بعدك لا تسري فإن لا تكن هند بكته فقد بكت * عليه الثريافي كواكبها الزهر (٢) في تاريخه ص ٢٧٣. (٣) لفظ " ابن عساكر ": (من مفصل الكف) . (٤) انظر " ابن عساكر " المجلدة العاشرة ص ١٢٧. (*) المعارف ٤١٠، تاريخ الطبري ٦ / حوادث سنة ٧٦ و٧٧، مروج الذهب ٣ / ٣٤٦ وما بعدها، جمهرة ابن حزم ص ٣٢٧، تاريخ ابن الأثير ٤ / حوادث سنة ٧٦ و٧٧، وفيات الأعيان ٢ / ٤٥٤، تاريخ الإسلام ٣ / ١٦٠، البداية والنهاية ٩ / ١٩، خطط المقريزي ٢ / ٣٥٥، النجوم الزاهرة ١ / ١٩٦.