كائنة تيمور بدمشق سنة 803هـ

كائنة تيمور بدمشق سنة 803هـ

c. 1401 CE · 803 AH

In 803 Timur, master of Transoxiana, Khurasan and Baghdad, took Aleppo in Rabi' I with unspeakable deeds, then turned to Damascus in Rabi' II and encamped from Darayya to Qatana, ringed the city, and trod captives beneath the mounts until the notables came out pleading quarter; he feasted, robed and honoured them, proclaimed safety, and hanged a soldier who looted the bazaar atop the Seed-Market — so the gates opened. He entered through Bab al-Saghir and prayed Friday at the Umayyad mosque, where his Mu'tazili imam Abd al-Jabbar debated Damascus's jurists on Ali's wars and Husayn's killing — 'if the Damascenes sanctioned it they are unbelievers, else rebels: how then do they stand?' The Citadel held out forty days till a wooden siege-tower was burned by fire-arrows and rebuilt; on its surrender Timur licensed plunder, slaughter and burning — women and children enslaved, torments inflicted for days, the buildings torched until all burned, then he departed ¹.