Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (14/446)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

and the circle of companions and intimates who followed the Jahmite creed, together with his scant knowledge of the Quran (1) and of hadith. When this transpired from him and he formed that vile, corrupt design, Allah destroyed him and laid him waste without delay (2), and He magnified the standing of the Hanbalites among the people (3) in the lands of Egypt (4) and Syria, in the eyes of both elite and commoner.

It was also said that one of their righteous men invoked a curse upon him; scarcely had he gone out to hunt before his end came swiftly. Allah knows best.

Al-Qadi al-Fadil thereupon composed a letter of condolence for al-ʿAziz and sent it to his uncle (5) al-Malik al-ʿAdil, who was then engaged in the siege (6) of Mardin, accompanied by the armies and by his son, Muhammad al-Kamil, his deputy over the Jazira region bordering the land of al-Hirah. The text of the letter ran as follows:

May Allah perpetuate the sovereignty of our master al-Malik al-ʿAdil (7), bless his span of life, exalt his cause by His Cause, and strengthen the victory of Islam through his victory (8). Lives would gladly be ransomed for his noble person; may Allah reduce all great calamities by the immense favors He has bestowed upon him, and grant him—and Islam together with him—a wholesome life in the mighty arenas (9) of conquest, whence he shall return with matters secure and outcomes sound. May he never lack men or numbers; may he never be deprived of a soul or a child; may neither the train of his robe nor the reach of his hand be shortened; may his eye nor his liver ever be made to ache; may no thought or source of provision ever be clouded for him.

Now, when Allah decreed what He decreed concerning the death of King al-ʿAziz—may Allah’s mercy and repeated salutations be upon him—his respite came to an end and his appointed term arrived. The shock of the calamity was immense and the dawn of grief grievous (10). May Allah therefore have mercy upon that face and grant it freshness, and thereafter ease his path to the Garden.

[From al-Kamil:]
When the charms of faces fade away,
The earth effaces their beauteous glow (11)

So grieve—on behalf of this servant and of the friends, indeed on behalf of the very heart of our master, may Allah never strip him (12) of the garments of dignity—over the swiftness of his death, his return to his resting-place, his donning the raiment of trial before the robe of youth had worn away (13), his being borne to the dust, and his bier

(1) Present only in manuscript A. (2) Manuscript A reads: falamma waqaʿa mā waqaʿa ʿaẓama (“then, when what happened had occurred, it became weighty”). (3) Present only in manuscript T. (4) Manuscript T reads: bi-Maṣr (“in Egypt”). (5) Manuscripts A and B read: ilā ʿammihi (“to his uncle”). (6) Manuscript T reads: muḥāṣir (“besieged”). (7) Manuscript B reads: al-ʿādil al-nāṣir (“the Just, the Rescuer”). (8) Manuscript B reads: naṣrah (“support”). (9) Manuscript T reads: mawāqīt (“appointed times”). (10) Manuscript T reads: kānat ḥayātuhu mukaddiratan ʿalayhi munghisatan muhlalah falammā ḥuṣir qalbahu. See al-Rawdatayn, vol. 2, p. 234. (11) In manuscript T the line appears in the following form, resembling prose rather than poetry: wa-idhā maḥāsin al-wajh bulīta tafʿī al-tharā ʿan wajhihi al-ḥasan (“And when the beauty of the face is spoiled, it absolves the earth of its fair appearance”). (12) The divine name (lafẓ al-jalālah) is not found in al-Uṣūl and was supplied in al-Rawdatayn (vol. 2, p. 234). (13) Manuscript A reads: al-thabāt (“steadfastness”).

وخلطائه وعشرائه من الجهمية، وقلة علمه بالقرآن (١) وبالحديث، فلما وقع [منه هذا ونوى هذه النية القبيحة الفاسدة أهلكه الله ودمره سريعًا، وعظم] (٢) قدر الحنابلة [بين الخلق] (٣) بديار مصر (٤) والشام، عند الخاص والعام. وقيل: إِن بعض صالحيهم دعا عليه، فما هو إِلا أن خرج إِلى الصيد فكان هلاكه سريعًا. فالله أعلم. وكتب القاضي الفاضل كتاب التعزية بالعزيز لعمه (٥) الملك العادل، وهو [مقيم على محاصرة] (٦) ماردين ومعه العساكر وولده محمد الكامل، وهو نائبه على بلاد الجزيرة المقاربة لبلاد الحيرة، وصورة الكتاب: أدام الله سلطان مولانا الملك العادل (٧) وبارك في عمره، وأعلى أمره بأمره، وأعز نصر (٨) الإِسلام بنصره، وفدت الأنفسُ نفسَه الكريمة، وأصغر الله العظائم بنعمه فيه العظيمة، وأحياه الله حياة طيبة، هو والإِسلام في مواقف (٩) الفتوح الجسيمة، وينقلب عنها بالأمور المسلمة والعواقب السليمة، ولا نقص له رجالًا ولا عددًا، ولا أعدمه نفسًا ولا ولدًا، ولا قصر له ذيلًا ولا يدًا، ولا أسخن له عينًا ولا كبدًا، ولا كدَّر له خاطرًا ولا موردًا، ولما قدر الله ما قدر من موت الملك العزيز، [رحمة الله عليه وتحياته مكررة إِليه، من انقضاء مهله، وحضور أجله، كانت بديهة المصاب عظيمة، وطالعة المكروه أليمة] (١٠) ، فرحم الله ذلك الوجه ونَضَّرَه، ثم إِلى سبيل الجنة يسَّره: [من الكامل] وإِذَا مَحَاسِنُ أَوْجُهٍ بَلِيَتْ … فَعَفَا الثَّرى عَنْ وَجْهِهِ الحَسَنِ (١١) فاعزز على المملوك وعلى الأولياء بل على قلب مولانا لا سلبه الله (١٢) ثياب العزاء بسرعة مصرعه، وانقلابه إِلى مضجعه، ولباسه ثوب البلاء قبل أن يبلى ثوب الشباب (١٣) ، وزفه إِلى التراب، وسريره

(١) عن أ وحدها. (٢) أ: فلما وقع ما وقع عظم. (٣) عن ط وحدها. (٤) ط: بمصر. (٥) أ، ب: إِلى عمه. (٦) ط: محاصر. (٧) ب: العادل الناصر. (٨) ب: نصرة. (٩) ط: مواقيت. (١٠) ط: كانت حياته مكدرة عليه منغصة مهملة فلما حصرا قلبه، الروضتين (٢/ ٢٣٤). (١١) جاء البيت في ط بالرواية التالية وكانه نثر لا شعر: وإِذا محاسن الوجه بليت تعفي الثرى عن وجهه الحسن. (١٢) ليس لفظ الجلالة في الأصول واستدركت عن الروضتين (٢/ ٢٣٤). (١٣) أ: الثبات.