Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (11/228)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

of Wāṣif and Bughā,⦗1⦘ together with any stipends recorded for them in the state registers. He even resolved to have them executed, but intercession was made on their behalf and he became reconciled to them.

In Rajab of that same year al-Muʿtazz deposed his brother Ibrāhīm, surnamed al-Muʾayyad, from the position of heir-apparent, imprisoned him and their brother Abū Aḥmad, and ordered that al-Muʾayyad be given forty strokes with the scourge.

When Friday, the seventh of the month, arrived, a sermon was delivered proclaiming his removal, and the decree to that effect was read aloud⦗2⦘.

Fifteen days later he died. One report says he was wrapped in a sable blanket and the ends were held tight until he suffocated; another that he was pelted with blocks of ice until he froze to death.⦗3⦘ Afterwards he was brought out of the prison bearing no mark; the judges and notables were summoned and made to attest that he had died without visible cause. He was then placed on a donkey, his shroud with him, taken to his mother, and buried.

[The Killing of al-Mustaʿīn]

In Shawwāl of this same year al-Muʿtazz wrote to his deputy Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir, ordering him to equip an army against al-Mustaʿīn. He therefore dispatched the Turk Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn, who seized him and brought him out with six days of Ramaḍān remaining; they reached al-Qāṭūl on the third of Shawwāl, where he was killed. Some say he was beaten to death; others that he was drowned in the Dijayl; still others that his head was struck off.

Ibn Jarīr⦗4⦘ relates that he⦗5⦘ asked Saʿīd ibn Ṣāliḥ the Turk, when the latter intended to kill him, to grant him time to perform two units of prayer; while he was in his final prostration Saʿīd killed him, buried the body on the spot, and obliterated all trace of it.

He then carried the head to al-Muʿtazz, entering upon him while he was playing chess. They said, “This is the head of the deposed one.” Al-Muʿtazz replied, “Put it down until I finish the board.”⦗6⦘ When he had finished he looked at it and ordered it to be buried. He then awarded Saʿīd ibn Ṣāliḥ fifty thousand dirhams and appointed him to the revenue office of Baṣrah.

In this same year Ismāʿīl ibn Yūsuf the ʿAlawī—who had committed the outrages in Mecca and desecrated the Sacred Precinct, as mentioned above—perished; his Lord, exalted is He, granted him no respite.

(1) In manuscripts B and Za: “what was in their registers,” whereas in al-Tabari: “and whoever was recorded in their registers from the bureaus.” (2) In manuscripts B and Za: “and it was read,” and in manuscript T: “and he ordered him to write a memorandum on himself to that effect.” (3) In manuscripts B and Za: “in a sable cloak.” (4) al-Tabari (vol. 9, p. 364). (5) In manuscripts B and Za: “that the one seeking help.” (6) “al-dast”: the game; the phrase “he has good dast” means “he is a skilled chess player.”

وصيفٍ وبُغَا ما (١) كان من رسومهما في الدواوين، وعزم على قتلهما، ثم استُرضي عنهما فرضي عنهما. وفي رجب من هذه السنة خلع المعتزُّ أخاه إبراهيم الملقب بالمؤيد من ولاية العهد وحبَسَه، وأخاه أبا أحمد، بعدما ضرب المؤيدَ أربعين مِقْرَعةً. ولمَّا كان يوم الجمعة سابعه خطب بخلْعه، وقرا (٢) كتابه على نفسه بذلك. وكانت وفاته بعد ذلك بخمسة عشر يومًا، فقيل: إنه أدرجَ في لحاف سَمّور (٣) ، وأمسِكَ طرفاه حتَّى مات غمًّا. وقيل: بل ضُرِب بحجارةٍ من ثَلْجٍ حتى ماتَ بَرْدًا، وبعد ذلك أُخرِج من السّجن ولا أثَرَ به، فأحضر القضاةُ والأعيان فأشهِدوا على موته من غير سببٍ وليس به أثر، ثم حُمِلَ على حمارٍ ومعه كفنُه إلى أُمِّه فدفنته. [ذكر مقتل المستعين] في شوَّال من هذه السنة كتب المعتزُّ إلى نائبه محمد بن عبد الله بن طاهر يأمره بتجهيز جيشٍ نحو المستعين، فجهز أحمد بن طولون التركيّ فوافاه، فأخرجه لستٍّ بقين من رمضان، فقدم به القاطولَ لثلاثٍ مضيْنَ من شوَّال، ثم قتل، فقيل: ضُرِبَ حتى مات، وقيل: بل غرق في دُجَيل، وقيل: بل ضُربت عنقه. وقد ذكر ابنُ جرير (٤) أنَّه (٥) سأل من سعيد بن صالح التركيّ حين أراد قتله أن يمهلَه حتَّى يصلِّيَ ركعتين، فلمَّا كان في السّجدة الأخيرة قتلَهُ وهو ساجدٌ، ودفنَ جثته في مكانها، وعفّى أثره. وحمَلَ رأسه إلى المعتزِّ، فدخَل به عليه وهو يلعب بالشطرنج، فقيل: هذا رأس المخلوع، فقال: ضعوه حتى أفرغَ من الدَّسْت (٦) ، فلمَّا فَرَغَ نظر إليه وأمرَ بدفنه، ثم أطلق لسعيد بن صالح الذي قتله خمسين ألف درهم، وولاه معونة البصرة. وفي هذه السنة مات إسماعيل بن يوسف العلويّ الذي فعل بمكّة ما فعل، وألحد في حرم الله ما ألْحَدَ، كما تقدم، فهلك في هذه السنة، ولم يُنظره ربُّه – Exalté soit-Il – .

(١) في ب، ظا: ما كان في رسومهما، وفي الطبري: ومن كان في رسمهما من الدواوين. (٢) في ب، ظا: وقرئ، وفي ط: وأمره أن يكتب كتابًا على نفسه بذلك. (٣) في ب، ظا: في لحاف من سمّور. (٤) الطبري (٩/ ٣٦٤). (٥) في ب، ظا: أنَّ المستعين. (٦) "الدّسْت": اللعبة، يقال: فلان حسن الدّست: شطرنجي ماهر.