Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (13/481)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

The amir Badr (1) was put to death. Al-Muʿtaḍid had been fond of him, for he was both brave and generous. At the time of al-Muʿtaḍid’s last illness the vizier al-Qāsim had considered transferring the caliphate to someone other than the caliph’s son; he discussed the idea with Badr, but Badr refused to support it, whereupon the vizier began to fear him. When al-Muʿtaḍid died, Badr happened to be absent in Fars, and there was some ill-feeling between him and al-Muktafī. Al-Qāsim therefore advised the new caliph to order that Badr be kept there and filled al-Muktafī with misgivings about him. Even so, the caliph wrote to Badr through Yānis al-Muwafaqī and sent him robes of honour together with ten thousand thousand dirhams, to which Badr replied, “I must come in person to see my master.”

The vizier said to al-Muktafī, “He has challenged you openly; we cannot trust him.” He then wrote to the commanders who were with Badr, bidding them come. They showed the letters to Badr and said, “Travel with us so that we may bring the two of you together,” but after leaving him they went on ahead. Badr followed and alighted at Wāsiṭ. Al-Muktafī dispatched Abū Ḥāzim the judge to him, saying, “Go to Badr with a pledge of safety and firm guarantees.” Abū Ḥāzim refused: “I will convey nothing on the caliph’s behalf unless I hear it directly from him.” The vizier then appointed Abū ʿUmar the judge, who hastened to meet Badr and granted him safe-conduct in the caliph’s name. Badr boarded a river craft to come, but Luʾluʾ, a slave of the vizier, intercepted him with a detachment of men, forced him to land on an island, and, when he realized that death was imminent, he said, “Let me perform two rakʿas and make my bequest.” They slaughtered him while he was in the second rakʿa, on the night of Friday, the twenty-seventh of Ramadan, and the people condemned Abū ʿUmar.

In the same year (2) ʿUbayd Allah al-Mahdī entered the Maghrib in disguise, whereupon the governor of Sijilmāsa arrested him. Yaḥyā ibn Zakrawayh the Qarmaṭian marched out, besieged Damascus, and Ṭughj was in the city.

(1) See: al-Muntazam, 6/34-36; al-Kamil, 7/517, 519; and al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 11/95. (2) The events of the year 289 overlapped with those of 290. The episode cited here by al-Dhahabi in fact belongs to the year 290, as he himself records in his al-Ibar, 2/95.

وَقُتِلَ الأَمِيْر بدر (١) ، وَكَانَ المعتضدُ يُحِبُّه، وَكَانَ شُجَاعاً جَوَاداً، وَقَدْ كَانَ القَاسِمُ الوَزِيْر هَمَّ عِنْد موت الْمُعْتَضد بنقلِ الخِلاَفَة إِلَى غَيْر ابْنه، وَنَاظَرَ بَدْراً فِي ذَلِكَ، فَأَبَى عَلَيْهِ، ثُمَّ خَافَ مِنْهُ، وَمَاتَ الْمُعْتَضد، وَاتَّفَقَ غَيْبَة بَدْر بفَارِس، وَكَانَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ المكتفِي شَيْء، فَأَشَار القَاسِم عَلَى المكْتَفِي أَنْ يَأْمر بِإِقَامَة بَدْرٍ هُنَاكَ، وَخَوَّف المكتفِي مِنْهُ، فَكَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ مَعَ يَانس الموفقي، وَبَعَثَ إِلَيْهِ بِخِلَعٍ وَعَشْرَةِ آلاَف أَلف دِرْهَم، فَقَالَ: لاَ بُدَّ مِنَ القُدُوم لأُشَاهد مَوْلاَيَ. فَقَالَ الوَزِيْر للمكتفِي: قَدْ جَاهَرَك، وَلاَ نَأْمَنه. وَكَاتَبَ الوَزِيْر الأُمَرَاء الَّذِيْنَ مَعَ بَدْر بِالمجِيْء، فَأَرُوا بدراً الكُتُبَ، وَقَالُوا: قُمْ مَعَنَا حَتَّى نَجْمَعَ بَيْنَكُمَا، ثُمَّ فَارقوهُ وَقدمُوا، ثُمَّ جَاءَ بدرٌ، فَنَزَلَ وَاسطاً، فَبَعَثَ إِلَيْهِ أَبُو خَازم القَاضِي، وَقَالَ: اذهبْ إِلَى بدرٍ بِالأَمَان وَالعُهُود. فَامْتَنَعَ أَبُو خَازم، وَقَالَ: لاَ أُؤَدِّي عَنِ الخَلِيْفَة إِلاَّ مَا أَسمَعُه مِنْهُ. فَنَدَب الوَزِيْر أَبَا عُمر القَاضِي، فسَارعَ وَاجتَمَعَ بِبَدْرٍ، وَأَعطَاهُ الأَمَان عَنِ المُكْتَفِي، فَنَزَلَ فِي طيَار ليَأْتِي، فَتَلَقَّاهُ لُؤْلُؤ غُلاَمُ الوَزِيْر فِي جَمَاعَةٍ، فَأَصعدُوهُ إِلَى جَزِيْرَة، فَلَمَّا عَايَنَ المَوْتَ، قَالَ: دعُونِي أُصَلِّي رَكْعَتَيْنِ وَأَوصي، فَذَبحوهُ وَهُوَ فِي الرَّكْعَة الثَّانِيَة لَيْلَةَ الجُمُعَةِ، السَّابع وَالعِشْرِيْنَ مِنْ رَمَضَانَ، وَذَمَّ النَّاسُ أَبَا عُمَر. وَفِيْهَا (٢) : دَخَلَ عُبَيْد اللهِ المَهْدِيّ إِلَى المَغْرِب مُتَنَكِّراً، فَقَبَض عَلَيْهِ مُتَوَلِّي سِجِلْمَاسَة. وَسَارَ يَحْيَى بن زَكْرَويه القِرْمِطي، وَحَاصَرَ دِمَشْق، وَبِهَا طُغج،

(١) انظره في: المنتظم: ٦ / ٣٤ - ٣٦، و: الكامل: ٧ / ٥١٧، ٥١٩، و: البداية والنهاية: ١١ / ٩٥. (٢) تداخلت أحداث سنة (٢٨٩) مع سنة (٢٩٠) ، فالخبر الذي يذكره الذهبي هنا هو من حوادث سنة (٢٩٠) وقد ذكره الذهبي في " عبره ": ٢ / ٩٥، في أخبارها.