Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (14/437)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

so they sought shelter in the congregational mosques, submitting to the calamity with bowed necks, downcast faces, and souls estranged from family and possessions (1). They cast furtive glances, wondering what overwhelming disaster might yet befall them; their ties to life had been cut (2) and every road to deliverance was obscured. Their thoughts turned to what lay ahead, and they rose to their prayer (3), wishing (4) they were among those who keep it perpetually (5), until Allah gave leave for the storm to calm and granted the weary night-watchers (6) the repose of sleep. When morning came each person greeted (7) (8) his companion, congratulating him on his safe passage, feeling as though he had been brought back to life after the trumpet-blast, awakened after the clamor and the cry, and that Allah had returned him to another round, reviving him after He had almost seized him unawares (9).

News arrived that the gale (10) had broken ships at sea, snapped trees in the wilderness, and destroyed a great many travelers; among them (11) were some who fled, yet flight (12) did them no good.

He went on to say:

“Let not the assembly imagine that I have let my pen distort the facts or that knowledge is hollow; the matter is far graver, yet Allah has spared us. We hope that Allah has awakened us by the very thing with which He admonished us and alerted us by what had once distracted us. None of His servants (13) has ever seen the Resurrection with his own eyes and then sought further proof thereafter (14)—save the people of our town. No ancient account records anything like it among exemplary punishments, nor has any previous catastrophe approached its severity. Praise be to Allah who, by His grace, has made us the reporters of the event and not its subjects. We ask Allah to avert from us the specter of greed and self-delusion and not to place us among those doomed to ruin and perdition.”

In the same year (15) al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil wrote from Egypt (16) to al-Malik al-ʿĀdil in Damascus, urging him to wage war against the Franks.

(1) In manuscript b: reads ‘an al-māl wa-al-ahl (about wealth and family). (2) In manuscript a: reads ‘aqluhum wa-‘ammat (their intellect and universality). (3) In manuscript t: reads ‘alā (on). (4) In manuscript b: reads kānū ‘alayhā (they were upon it). (5) No variant in manuscript t. (6) In a: reads al-muhājirīn (the emigrants); in t: reads al-hājidūn (the watchers). (7) In manuscript t: reads Muslim. (8) No variant in manuscript a. (9) In manuscript b: reads ‘alā al-ghurra (at dawn). (10) Appears only in manuscript t. (11) No variant in manuscript b. (12) In manuscript t: adds fa-lā (then not). (13) In a and t: reads illā man (except whoever); see al-Rawdatayn, vol. 2, p. 232. (14) In manuscript b: reads min ba‘dih (after him). (15) In manuscript b: reads arā‘nā wa-qad kutiba (it has occurred to us and has been inscribed). (16) In manuscript b: reads min al-diyār al-miṣriyya (from the Egyptian territories).

سبيلًا، فاعتصموا بالمساجد الجامعة، وأذعنوا للنازلة بأعناق خاضعة، بوجوه عانية، ونفوس عن الأهل والمال سالية (١) ، ينظرون من طرف خفي، ويتوقَّعون أي خطب جلي، قد انقطعت من الحياة علقهم (٢) ، وعميت عن النجاة طرقهم، ووقعت الفكرة فيما هم عليه قادمون، وقاموا إِلى (٣) صلاتهم، وودُّوا لو كانوا (٤) من الذين هم (٥) عليه دائمون، إِلى أن أذن الله بالرُّكود، وأسعف الهاجدين (٦) بالهجود، فأصبح كلٌّ يسلِّم (٧) على (٨) رفيقه ويهنيه بسلامة طريقه، ويرى أنه قد بُعث بعد النفخة، وأفاق بعد الصيحة والصرخة، وأن الله قد رد له الكرة، وأحياه بعد أن كاد يأخذه على غِرة (٩) ، ووردت الأخبار بأنها قد (١٠) كسرت المراكب في البحار، والأشجار في القفار، وأتلفت خلقًا كثيرًا من السفَّار، ومنهم (١١) من فرّ فلم (١٢) ينفعه الفرار. إِلى أن قال: ولا يحسب المجلس أني أرسلت القلم مُحَرَّفًا، والعلم مُجَوَّفًا، فالأمر أعظم، ولكن الله سلَّم، ونرجو أن الله قد أيقظنا بما به وعظنا، ونبهنا بما فيه ولهنا، فما من عباده من (١٣) رأى القيامة عيانًا، ولم يلتمس عليها من بعد (١٤) ذلك برهانًا، إِلا أهل بلدنا، فما قص الأولون مثلها في المثلات، ولا سبقت لها سابقة في المعضلات، والحمد لله الذي من فضله قد جعلنا نخبر عنها، ولا يُخْبَر عنَّا، ونسأل الله أن يصرف عنا عارض الحرص والغرور، ولا يجعلنا من أهل الهلاك والثبور. وفيها (١٥) : كتب القاضي الفاضل من مصر (١٦) إِلى الملك العادل بدمشق يحثُّه على قتال الفرنج،

(١) ب: عن المال والأهل. (٢) أ: عقلهم وعمت. (٣) ط: على. (٤) ب: كانوا عليها. (٥) ليس في ط. (٦) أ: المهاجرين، ط: الهاجدون. (٧) ط: مسلم. (٨) ليس في أ. (٩) ب: على الغرة. (١٠) عن ط وحدها. (١١) ليس في ب. (١٢) ط: (فلا). (١٣) أ، ط: إِلَّا من، الروضتين (٢/ ٢٣٢). (١٤) ب: من بعده. (١٥) ب: أراعنا وقد كتب. (١٦) ب: من الديار المصرية.