Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (15/537)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

A courier arrived requesting (1) Shams al-Dīn Sunqur al-Ashqar (2) to come to the Egyptian domains. The sultan honored him, empowered him, strengthened his hand, and ordered him to recover the state’s funds; he also further (3) reinforced the armies and discussed the fortresses stretching to al-Bīra and Kakhtā (4) and elsewhere. Sunqur’s confidence rose and so did his haughtiness, yet he would still revert to gallantry and discretion and would benefit (5) all who were connected to him—an affection in this world that lasts only a few brief days.

In Jumādā al-Ākhira a courier arrived with instructions to audit Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Maqdisī (6), the agent of the public treasury and overseer of the sultan’s private domain (7). Disgraceful matters emerged: he had consumed endowment revenues and other monies. He was confined in the ʿAdhrāwiyya, required to repay the funds, and subjected to severe pressure. Sayf al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Samarī (8) composed a poem (9) in which he exacted satisfaction for the injustice and harm the man had inflicted upon him, even though he had once gone to visit him, comforted him, and exchanged jokes (10).

Subsequently another courier summoned him to Egypt, and the deputies (11) feared his departure [to those lands, with his meddling and rapacity] (12). On Friday morning, [the third of Shaʿbān], he was found hanged at the ʿAdhrāwiyya school. The judges and witnesses were called and saw him in that state; thereafter he was prepared (13), the funeral prayer was performed for him after the Friday service, and he was buried (14) in the Ṣūfī cemetery beside his father. He had been a lecturer at the Rawāḥiyya and at the Tomb of Umm al-Ṣāliḥ, in addition to holding the two agencies and the inspectorship.

A dispatch arrived ordering the construction of mangonels for the siege of Acre. Al-Aʿsar therefore rode to the lands of Baʿlabakk, for there were enormous timbers there—none like them could be found in Damascus—and they were suitable for that purpose. Consequently, crimes, levies, and forced labor multiplied, and they burdened

(1) In manuscript ṭ: “yatlub” (it requests). (2) Manuscript A reads “sanqirr al-aʿṣar” (we will establish the left-hand one), and B reads “sanqirr al-ashqar al-aʿz” (we will establish the fair, the most honored). (3) In manuscript ṭ: “mushadd” (intensified); a corruption. (4) Manuscript B reads “kakhtar”; I have not formed an opinion on this reading. (5) Manuscript B reads “wa manaʿa” (and prevented). (6) Manuscript B reads “Ibn al-Maqdisī”; i.e. Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Shams al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Nūḥ al-Dimashqī b. al-Maqdisī. His biography appears in al-ʿIbar (vol. 5, p. 364) and in al-Dāris (vol. 1, p. 271). (7) Manuscript B reads “bayt al-māl wa-l-khāṣ wa-nāẓir al-awqāf” (the public treasury, the private treasury, and superintendent of endowments), then it appeared. (8) He is Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Jaʿfar al-Sāmarī (with a fatḥah on the mīm and a shaddah on the rā’), named after the city of Sarr Man Ra’ī, a town on the Tigris. His biography will be given in the Obituaries for the year 696 in this volume; it also appears in al-Dāris (vol. 1, p. 72). (9) Ibn Shākir al-Kutubī includes in his Fawāt some lines of this poem; its opening reads: “warda al-bashīru bimā aqarra al-ʿuyūna … fa-shafā al-ṣuḍūr wa ballagha al-nās al-munā” (“The bearer of glad tidings came with that which gladdened the eyes … so hearts were healed and people attained their desires.”) (10) Manuscript A reads “asda bihi min al-ẓulm wa ādhaahu” (he did injustice to him and harmed him); B reads “asda ilayhi maʿ anna huwa rāḥ” (he showed him favor, although he had departed). (11) In al-Dāris it reads “al-bawwāb”; a corruption that should be corrected there. (12) Found only in manuscript A; al-Nuʿaymī quotes this passage verbatim, as is his custom (al-Dāris vol. 1, p. 269). (13) Manuscript A reads “wajjahahu” (and he equipped him). (14) Manuscript B reads “al-jumʿah thumma nuqila ilā maqābir al-ṣūfiyyah wa dufina ʿinda abīhi” (on Friday, then he was transferred to the Sufi cemeteries and buried next to his father).

(وجاء) البريد بطلب (١) شمس الدين سنقر الأشقر (٢) إلى الديار المصرية، فأكرمه السلطان وقواه وشَدَّ يَدَهُ وأمره باستخلاص الأموال، وزاده شد (٣) الجيوش، والكلام على الحصون إلى البيرة وكختا (٤) وغير ذلك، فقويت نفسه وزاد تجبُّره ولكن كان يرجع إلى مروءة وستر وينفع (٥) مَنْ ينتمي إليه، (وذلك مودة في الدنيا في أيام قلائل) . وفي جمادى الآخرة جاء البريد بالكشف على ناصر الدين المقدسي (٦) وكيل بيت المال، وناظر الخاص (٧) ، فظهرت عليه مخازٍ من أكلِ الأوقاف وغيرها، فرُسِمَ عليه بالعَذْراوية وطُولبَ بتلك الأموال وضُيِّق عليه، وعمل فيه سيف الدين أبو العباس السامرِّي (٨) قصيدة (٩) يَتَشفَّى فيها لما كان أسدى إليه من الظلم والإيذاء مع (١٠) أنه راح إليه وتغمم له وتمازحا هنالك، ثم جاء البريد بطلبه إلى الديار المصرية فخاف النواب (١١) من ذهابه [إليها وفضوله وشره] (١٢) ، فأصبح يوم الجمعة [ثالث شعبان] وهو مشنوق بالمدرسة العَذْراوية، فطُلبت القضاةُ والشهود فشاهدوه كذلك، ثم جُهِّز (١٣) وصُلِّي عليه بعد الجمعة ودُفن (١٤) بمقابر الصوفية عند أبيه، وكان مدرسًا بالرواحية وتربة أم الصالح، مع الوكالتين والنظر. وجاء البريد بعمل مجانيق لحصارِ عَكّا فركب الأعسرُ إلى أراضي بعلبك لما هنالك من الأخشاب العظيمة التي لا يوجد مثلُها بدمشق، وهي تصلحُ لذلك، فكثرت الجناياتُ والجباياتُ والسخر، وكلفوا

(١) ط: يطلب. (٢) أ: سنقر الأعسر، وب: سنقر الأشقر الأعز. (٣) ط: مشد؛ تحريف. (٤) ب: كختار. ولم أصل فيها إلى رأي. (٥) ب: ومنع. (٦) ب: بن المقدسي؛ وهو ناصر الدين محمد بن شمس الدين عبد الرحمن بن نوح الدمشقي بن المقدسي ترجمته في العبر (٥/ ٣٦٤) والدارس (١/ ٢٧١). (٧) ب: بيت المال والخاص وناظر الأوقاف فظهرت. (٨) هو أحمد بن محمد بن علي بن جعفر السامري - بفتح الميم وتشديد الراء - نسبة إلى مدينة سرّ مَنْ رأى وهي بلدة على الدجلة. وسترد ترجمته في وفيات سنة ٦٩٦ من هذا الجزء ووردت ترجمته في الدارس (١/ ٧٢). (٩) أورد ابن شاكر الكتبي في فواته شيئًا من هذه القصيدة ومطلعها: ورد البشيرُ بما أقرَّ الأعينا … فشفى الصدور وبلَّغ الناسَ المُنَى (١٠) أ: أسدى به من الظلم وآذاه، وب: أسدى إليه مع أنه راح. (١١) في الدارس: البواب؛ تحريف لا بد من تصحيحه هناك. (١٢) عن أ وحدها، ونقل النعيمي هذا النص نقلًا حرفيًا على عادته. الدارس (١/ ٢٦٩). (١٣) أ: وجهزه. (١٤) ب: الجمعة ثم نقل إلى مقابر الصوفية ودفن عند أبيه.