Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (15/150)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

then Ziyādat Allāh and al-Shīʿī clashed on more than one occasion, and al-Shīʿī carried the day each time. Abū al-ʿAbbās broke out of prison, only to be captured again (1).

As for Ziyādat Allāh, he lost all hope of holding the Maghrib and fled to Egypt.

Al-Shīʿī and his brother now advanced with a large force. They made for Sijilmāsa, whose governor al-Yasaʿ came out to confront them, but his army was routed in 296 AH. Al-Shīʿī released ʿUbayd Allāh and his son, seized the country, and the Maghrib lay open before him (2).

He then marched with forty thousand men, by land and sea, toward Egypt. He encamped at Labda, four stages from Alexandria (3). Takin al-Khāṣṣa (4) opened the Nile’s waters against them, so the flood stood between them and Egypt (5).

Al-Musabbihī (6) reports: “This was the engagement of Barqa; al-Manṣūr (7) surrendered the province and fled to Egypt.”

In that same year Ḥabbāsa al-Kutāmī advanced with a great army as the vanguard before the Mahdī’s son. He reached Giza but went astray at the ford; government troops sallied out and barred his way. The Nile was in full flood, so the Mahdī’s forces withdrew, ravaging and laying waste as they went (8).

(1) See al-Kamil, vol. 8, pp. 36–47. (2) Al-Kamil, vol. 8, pp. 47–49. (3) Al-Mahdi did not himself lead the expedition against Egypt; he simply mobilised the troops and dispatched them with his son Abu al-Qasim al-Qaim. (4) His biography has already been given in note 55 of this volume. (5) Al-Kamil, vol. 8, pp. 84–85. (6) Muhammad ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad, known as al-Musabbihi, was an emir, historian and man of letters. He wrote a history of Egypt and died in 430 AH. See his biography in Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 4, pp. 377–380. (7) Khayr al-Mansuri, one of the commanders under Takin al-Khassa. See Wulat Misr, p. 287. (8) Al-Kamil, vol. 8, p. 89.

التقَى زِيَادَةُ اللهِ وَالشِّيْعِيُّ غَيْرَ مَرَّةٍ، وَينتصر الشِّيْعِيُّ، وَانهَزَمَ مِنَ السجنِ أَبُو العَبَّاسِ، ثُمَّ أُمْسِكَ (١) . وَأَمَّا زِيَادَةُ الله فَأَيس مِنَ المَغْرِب، وَلحِقَ بِمِصْرَ. وَأَقبلَ الشِّيْعِيُّ وَأَخُوْهُ فِي جَمْعٍ كَثِيْرٍ. فَقَصَدَا سِجِلْمَاسَةَ، فَبَرَزَ لَهُمَا مُتَوَلِّيهَا اليَسَع، فَانهزمَ جَيْشُهُ فِي سَنَةِ سِتٍّ وَتِسْعِيْنَ وَمائَتَيْنِ، وَأَخرج الشِّيْعِيُّ عُبَيْدَ اللهِ وَابْنَه، وَاسْتَوْلَى عَلَى البِلاَد، وَتمهَّدَتْ لَهُ المَغْرِبُ (٢) . ثمَّ سَارَ فِي (٣) أَرْبَعِيْنَ أَلفاً براً وَبَحْراً يقصِدُ مِصْرَ، فَنَزَلَ لَبْدَة، وَهِيَ عَلَى أَرْبَعَة مرَاحِل مِنَ الإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّة. فَفَجَّرَ تِكْين الخَاصَّة (٤) عَلَيْهِم النّيلَ فَحَال المَاءُ بينَهُم وَبَيْنَ مِصْرَ (٥) . قَالَ المُسَبِّحِيّ (٦) :فَكَانَتْ وَقْعَةُ بَرْقَةَ، فَسَلَّمَهَا المَنْصُوْرُ (٧) ، وَانهزَمَ إِلَى مِصْرَ. وَفِيْهَا: سَارَ حباسَة الكُتَامِيُّ فِي عَسْكَرٍ عَظِيْمٍ طليعَةً بَيْنَ يَدي ابْن المَهْدِيِّ. فَوَصَلَ إِلَى الجِيزَة، فتَاهُ عَلَى المَخَاضَة، وَبَرَزَ إِلَيْهِ عَسْكَرٌ وَمَنَعُوهُ. وَكَانَ النِّيلُ زَائِداً، فَرَجَعَ جَيْشُ المَهْدِيِّ وَعَاثُوا وَأَفسدُوا (٨) .

(١) انظر " الكامل ": ٨ / ٣٦ - ٤٧. (٢) " الكامل ": ٨ / ٤٧ - ٤٩. (٣) لم يغز المهدي مصر بنفسه، بل جهز العساكر وسيرها مع ولده أبي القاسم القائم. (٤) تقدمت ترجمته برقم / ٥٥ / من هذا الجزء. (٥) " الكامل ": ٨ / ٨٤ - ٨٥. (٦) هو محمد بن عبيد الله بن أحمد، المعروف بالمسبحي، أمير، مؤرخ، عالم بالادب. له كتاب في تاريخ مصر، توفي سنة / ٤٣٠ / هـ انظر ترجمته في " وفيات الأعيان ": ٤ / ٣٧٧ - ٣٨٠. (٧) خير المنصوري، أحد قادة تكين الخاصة. انظر " ولاة مصر ": ٢٨٧. (٨) " الكامل ": ٨ / ٨٩.