Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (15/41)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

in order to secure a place for his session at the appointed time (13); such was the press of the crowd that, once his sermon was over, they would go out to their orchards (1). All day long they spoke of nothing but what he had said, repeating: “The shaykh said… we heard from the shaykh.” His words spurred them to righteous deeds and kept them from wrongdoing. The leading dignitaries (2) also attended—indeed, even Shaykh Taj al-Din Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi (3) would sit in the domed alcove by the shrine gate together with the city governor al-Muʿtamid and the countryside governor Ibn Tamirk and others.

When he took his seat (4) in the great mosque on Saturday, the fifth of Rabiʿ I, as we have noted, he urged the people to wage jihad and ordered that the locks of hair he had collected (5) from repentant sinners be brought forward. Out of those locks he had fashioned rope-like cords (6) for men to carry. The moment the congregation saw them they raised a single outcry, weeping profusely (7) and cutting off portions of their own hair to add to the cords.

When the session ended he stepped down from the pulpit, and the governor, Mubariz (9) al-Din al-Muʿtamid ibn Ibrahim—one of the finest of men—came forward to greet him (8). The governor walked before him as far as the Natafiyyin Gate (10), supporting him until he mounted his horse, while people thronged around him in front, behind, to his right, and to his left. He went out through Bab al-Faraj and the Musalla Gate (11). The next day he rode with the crowds to Kiswah, accompanied by multitudes who had set out with the intention of jihad in the lands (12) of Jerusalem. Among those who marched with him were three hundred fully equipped men from (13) Zamlaka.

He said: “We reached the Afiq Pass, where even the birds dared not fly for fear of the Franks. When we arrived at Nablus, al-Muʿazzam came out to meet us—and I had never met him before. When he saw the cords made from the hair of the penitents, he began to kiss them, rub them over his face (14), and weep.

“In Nablus Abu al-Muzhaffar held a preaching session, exhorted the people to jihad, and it was a day long remembered. He then continued his march in the company of al-Muʿazzam.”

(1) Edition T reads: “to their places.” (2) Manuscript B reads: “and the seniors attend him.” This is an inelegant expression. (3) The entry on al-Kindi will appear under the year 613 AH. (4) Edition T reads: “and others,” whereas the intended meaning is “when he sat on Saturday.” (5) Edition T reads: “taḥaṣṣal” (to be obtained). (6) Edition T reads: “tuḥmal” (to be carried). (7) Edition T reads: “wa-bakaw” (and they wept). (8) Manuscripts A and B read: “talaqqāh” (he meets him). (9) Edition T reads: “He descended from the pulpit and Mubāhir al-Dīn al-Mu‘tamid ibn Ibrāhīm hastened to meet him,” cf. Zail al-Rawdatayn, p. 73. (10) Manuscripts A and B read: “al-Nāṭifanīyīn.” (11) Manuscript B reads: “fa-kharaja wa-bāb al-muṣallā” (and he went out to the gate of the prayer hall); manuscript A reads: “wa-bāb al-muṣallā” (and the gate of the prayer hall). (12) Edition T reads: “to the lands of Jerusalem.” (13) Edition T reads: “from the vicinity of Zamlaka,” whereas manuscripts A and B read: “from the people of Malika.” (14) “On his eyes and face.”

من شدة الزحام، فإِذا فرغ من وعظه خرجوا إِلى بساتينهم (١) وليس لهم كلام إِلا فيما قال يومهم ذلك أجمع، يقولون قال الشيخ وسمعنا من الشيخ، فيحثهم ذلك على العمل الصالح والكف عن المساوئ، وكان يحضر عنده الأكابر (٢) ، حتى الشيخ تاج الدين أبو اليُمْنِ الكندي (٣) ، كان يجلس في القبة التي عند باب المشهد هو ووالي البلد المعتمد ووالي (البر) ابن تميرك وغيرهم. فلما جلس (٤) [في] يوم السبت خامس ربيع الأول [بالجامع] كما ذكرنا حث الناس على الجهاد وأمر بإِحضار ما كان يحصل (٥) عنده من شعور التائبين، وقد عمل منه شكالات يحملها (٦) الرجال، فلما رآها الناس ضجوا ضجة واحدة وتباكَوْا (٧) بكاءً كثيرًا وقطعوا من شعورهم نحوها، فلما انقضى المجلس نزل عن المنبر فتلقاه (٨) الوالي مبارز (٩) الدين المعتمد بن إِبراهيم، وكان من خيار الناس، فمشى بين يديه إِلى باب الناطفيين (١٠) يعضده حتى ركب فرسه والناس من بين يديه ومن خلفه وعن يمينه وعن شماله، فخرج من باب الفرج وباب بالمصلى (١١) ، ثم ركب من الغد في الناس إِلى الكسوة ومعه خلائق كثيرون خرجوا بنية الجهاد ببلاد (١٢) القدس، وكان من جملة من معه ثلاثمائة من أهل (١٣) زَمْلَكا بالعدد الكثيرة التامة، قال: فجئنا عقبة أفيق والطير لا يتجاسر أن يطير من خوف الفرنج، فلما وصلنا نابلس تلقانا المعظم، قال ولم أكن اجتمعت به قبل ذلك، فلما رأى الشكالات من شعور التائبين جعل يقبِّلها ويمرِّغها على وجهه (١٤) ويبكي. وعمل أبو المظفَّر ميعادًا بنابلس وحثّ على الجهاد وكان يومًا مشهودًا، ثم سار صحبة المعظم

(١) ط: إِلى أماكنهم. (٢) ب: ويحضرون عنده الأكابر. وهي لغة مفضولة. (٣) سترد ترجمة -الكندي- سنة ٦١٣. (٤) ط: وغيرهم والمقصود أنه لما جلس يوم السبت. (٥) ط: تحصل. (٦) ط: تحمل. (٧) ط: وبكوا. (٨) أ، ب: تلقاه. (٩) ط: ونزل عن المنبر فتلقاه مبادر الدين المعتمد بن إِبراهيم. ذيل الروضتين (٧٣). (١٠) أ، ب: الناطفانيين. (١١) في ب: فخرج وباب بالمصلى، أ: وباب المصلى. (١٢) ط: إِلى بلاد القدس. (١٣) ط: من جهة زملكا، وفي أ، ب: من أهل ملكا. (١٤): على عينيه ووجهه.