Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (15/284)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

between them and secured the release of several members of royal households from the Egyptian lands—among them the sons of al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, the house (1) of al-Ashraf, and others descended from the lord of Ḥoms and elsewhere. May Allah reward him well (2).

In the same year, Ibn al-Saʿī relates, a man in Baghdad was carrying on his head some qāshānī yoghurt bowls (3). He slipped, the bowls shattered, and he stood weeping. The people were moved by his poverty and need, for he owned nothing else. One of those present gave him a dinar.

When he took it, he examined it at length and said, “By Allah, I recognise this dinar (4); it was among the coins I lost last year.”

Some of the bystanders scolded him, whereupon the man who had given the coin asked, “So what (5) proof do you have for what you claim?” He replied, “Its weight is such-and-such, and together with it I had twenty-three dinars.” They weighed it and found it exactly as he had said; so the donor produced twenty-three dinars—[just as related, for he had found them] (6) when they fell from the poor man—and returned them to him. The people were astonished at this (7).

He continued: Something similar (8) happened in Mecca. A man took off his clothes to bathe with the water of Zamzam and removed from his upper arm a gold armlet weighing fifty (9) mithqals, placing it with his garments. When he had finished bathing, he dressed, forgot the armlet, and went on his way. He later reached Baghdad and, after two years had passed, lost hope of recovering it. All he had left was a small sum (10), so he bought some glass and flasks (11) to sell for a living. While hawking them he slipped (12), the flasks fell and smashed, and he stood weeping as people gathered around him in sympathy.

In the course of his lament he said, “By Allah, my friends, two years ago I lost a gold armlet near the Zamzam well that weighed (13) fifty mithqals. Yet I did not grieve over its loss as I grieve over the breaking (14) of these flasks, for these were all I owned.”

Someone in the crowd said to him, “By Allah, I found that very armlet and took it from…"

(1) T reads “wabanat” (“and a daughter”); a corruption. (2) T reads “jazāhu” (“may He reward him”). (3) T reads “qabisi fa-zallaqa fa-taksarat wa-waqafa yabkī” (“he seized it, it slipped, broke, and he stood weeping”). (4) A reads “ʿaraftuhu” (“I recognized him”). (5) A, B read “wa-mā ʿalāmah” (“and what is the sign?”). (6) Attested only in T. (7) Z reads “li-dhālik” (“for that reason”). (8) B reads “dhālik” (“that”). (9) A, B read “bi-zinat khamsīn” (“weighing fifty”). (10) B reads “wa-lam yabqa maʿahu illā shayʾun yasīr” (“and nothing remained with him except a small amount”). (11) B reads “min qawārīr” (“from glass bottles”). (12) A, B read “taʿsun” (“unlucky”); a corruption. (13) A, B read “zinat khamsīn” (“fifty weight”). (14) T reads “khamsūn dīnārān. mā bālītu li-faqdihī kamā bālītu li-taksīri hādhihi al-qawārīr” (“Fifty dinars. I was not as distressed by its loss as I was by the breaking of these bottles”).

بينهم وخلَّصَ جماعةً من بيوت الملوك من الديار المصرية، منهم أولادُ الصالح إِسماعيل، وبيت (١) الأشرف وغيرهم من أولادِ صاحب حمص وغيرهم، فجزاه (٢) الله خيرًا. وفيها: فيما ذكر ابن الساعي كان رجلٌ ببغداد على رأسه زبادي قاشاني (٣) فزلق فتكسّرت فوقف يبكي، فتألم الناسُ له لفقره وحاجته، وأنه لم يكن يملك غيرها، فأعطاه رجل من الحاضرين دينارًا، فلما أخذه نظر فيه طويلًا ثم قال: والله هذا الدينار أعرفه (٤) ، وقد ذهب مني في جملة دنانير عام أول، فشتمه بعضُ الحاضرين فقال له ذلك الرجل: فما (٥) علامةُ ما قلت؟ قال زِنةُ هذا كذا وكذا، وكان معه ثلاثة وعشرون دينارًا، فوزنوه فوجدوه [كما ذكر، فأخرج له الرجل ثلاثة وعشرين دينارًا، وكان قد وجدها] (٦) كما قال حين سقطت منه، فتعجَّبَ الناس من ذلك (٧) . قال: ويقرب من هذا (٨) أن رجلًا بمكة نزعَ ثيابه ليغتسلَ من ماءِ زمزم وأخرج من عضده دملجًا زنته خمسون (٩) مثقالًا فوضعه مع ثيابه، فلما فرغَ من اغتساله لبسَ ثيابه ونسي الدملجَ ومضى، وصار إِلى بغداد وبقي مدةَ سنتين بعد ذلك وأيس منه، ولم يبقَ معه شيء إِلا يسير (١٠) فاشترى به زجاجًا وقوارير (١١) ليبيعَها ويتكسب بها، فبينما هو يطوفُ بها إِذ زلق (١٢) فسقطت القواريرُ فتَكَسَّرت فوقف يبكي واجتمع الناسُ عليه يتألّمون له، فقال في جملة كلامه: والله يا جماعة لقد ذهب مني من مدة سنتين دملج من ذهب [عند بئر زمزم] زنته (١٣) خمسون مثقالًا، ما تألمت لفقده كما تألمت لتكسّر (١٤) هذه القوارير، وما ذاك إِلا لأن هذه كانت جميعَ ما أملك، فقال له رجلٌ من الجماعة: فأنا والله لقيت ذلك الدملج، وأخرجه من

(١) ط: وبنت؛ تحريف. (٢) ط: جزاه. (٣) ط: قابسي فزلق فتكسرت ووقف يبكي. (٤) أ: عرفته. (٥) أ، ب: وما علامة. (٦) عن ط وحدها. (٧) ظ: لذلك. (٨) ب: ذلك. (٩) أ، ب: بزنة خمسين. (١٠) ب: ولم يبق معه سوى شيء يسير. (١١) ب: من قوارير. (١٢) أ، ب: تعس؛ تحريف. (١٣) أ، ب: زنة خمسين. (١٤) ط: خمسون دينارًا. ما باليت لفقده كما باليت لتكسير هذه القوارير.