and present on that occasion were Shaykh Taj al-Din (1) al-Fazari (2), Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibn Daqiq al-ʿId, Ibn al-ʿAjil of Yemen, and a number of other scholars and devout worshippers (3). His discourse was masterful and beneficial; he preached with consummate eloquence and beauty. This gathering was recorded by Shaykh Sharaf al-Din al-Fazari (4), who stated that it took place in the year 675 AH (5).
Al-Malik al-Saʿid (6), son of al-Malik al-Zahir: Nasir al-Din Muhammad Baraka (7) Khan Abu al-Maʿali, son of Sultan al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari.
His father secured the oath of allegiance for him from the emirs during his own lifetime; when the father died, the oath was renewed and he assumed the throne at the age of nineteen. Affairs at first proceeded (8) smoothly, but before long the khaṣṣakiyya—his personal favourites (9)—gained the upper hand. It is related that he began to play polo with them on the Green Field, and when his turn came he would dismount and join them. The senior emirs (10) took offence, deeming it improper that their sovereign should frolic with youths and place himself on their level. They wrote urging him to desist, but he refused; accordingly they deposed him, as already noted, and installed Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur Qalawun at the end of Rajab, as previously mentioned.
He died in this same year at al-Karak on Friday, the 11th of Dhu al-Qaʿdah. It is said that he was poisoned—Allah knows best. He was first buried near the grave of Jaʿfar and his companions who were martyred at Muʾtah, then transferred to Damascus and laid to rest in his father’s mausoleum in the year 680 AH.
= (4/20), and he also records for him on (4/23) a treatise composed before his death.
(1) The biography of Taj al-Din al-Fazari—‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim ibn Sibā‘—will appear under the obituaries for the year 690 AH in this volume.
(2) In the printed edition: “bin al-Fazari”; the element “bin” is unnecessary.
(3) In manuscript B: “min al-‘ibād wa al-‘ulamā’” (from worshippers and scholars).
(4) In manuscript A: “Taqī al-Dīn”, and in the printed edition: “Taj al-Dīn”; both are errors. The biography of Sharaf al-Dīn al-Fazari—Aḥmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Sibā‘—will appear under the obituaries for 705 AH in the next and final volume of this work, God willing.
(5) Qutb al-Dīn states: Sheikh Sharaf al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbās Aḥmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Sibā‘ ibn Ḍiyā’ al-Fazari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “I performed the Ḥajj in the year 675 AH, and among the pilgrims from the provinces was Ibn al-‘Ajīl … etc.”
(6) Biography of al-Malik al-Sa‘īd in the appendix to Mir’āt al-Zamān (vol. 4, pp. 33–34), Tarīkh al-Islām (vol. 15, p. 366), al-‘Ibar (vol. 5, p. 321), al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 7, p. 259), and al-Shudhara (vol. 7, p. 632).
(7) In the edition: “al-Malik al-Sa‘īd ibn al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Baraka Khān Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Baraka Khān.” The term “ibn” is redundant, and the first “Baraka Khān” is inappropriate; the correct form is as given above. Ibn Taghrī Birdī reports in al-Nujūm that he was named Baraka Khān after his maternal grandfather, Baraka Khān ibn Dawla Khān al-Khwarizmī.
(8) In the printed edition: “wa mashayt.”
(9) The khassakiyya are those who enter the ruler’s private quarters without permission during his leisure, gaining privileges denied to others. They attend at dawn and dusk to serve the palace and stables, and accompany the ruler day and night, armed and in full dress (al-Nujūm, margin vol. 7, pp. 179–180).
(10) After this phrase, manuscript A reads “wa ḥamau”, while manuscript B reads “wa ḥamau min dhālik wa anfau.”