al-Nasir li-Din Allah Ahmad ibn al-Mustadi'
Abbasid caliph [575–622], longest reign of any — forty-seven years. His web of correspondents reached every court till men said he was served by jinn; al-Muwaffaq: 'he revived the caliphate's awe that died with al-Mu'tasim'. Ibn Wasil's counter-verdict: an unjust sira, lands taken, Imami leanings — Ibn al-Jawzi's diplomatic 'best after the Prophet: he whose daughter lay beneath him'. Mid-reign he took up hadith, a seventy-hadith booklet heard as far as Aleppo; blind at the end, a slave-girl he taught wrote his rescripts. Khwarazmshah's march broke in snow without a battle; he died Sunday at Ramadan's end, 622.
Reign · Abbasid Caliphate · no. 9 in the chain · 1180–1225 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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The Fitna of the Hafiz Abd al-Ghani in Damascus in 595
In 595 Damascus saw the fitna of the hafiz Abd al-Ghani the khatib — a man of known merits, a caller to the Sunna. The Ash'aris rose against him and licensed his killing, so he was driven out of Damascus, a fugitive.
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Burning of the Books of Abd al-Salam ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and His Condemnation as a Fasiq in 603
In 603 the caliph arrested al-Rukn Abd al-Salam, son of Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani; his books were burned and he was ruled a fasiq — the same man who had informed on Ibn al-Jawzi until the latter was ruined. His obituary under 611 gives the mechanism: the wazir Ibn Yunus sealed his house and extracted volumes of the philosophers, the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa, books of sorcery, narang and star-worship; read aloud was an address to Saturn — 'O luminous planet, you direct the spheres, give life and death, you are our god' — and when Abd al-Salam owned the hand, a great fire was lit beneath the mosque, Abu Bakr Ibn al-Maristaniyya read the volumes out one by one with curses on their writer and believers, and the crowd's cursing ran on to Abd al-Qadir and even Imam Ahmad; the qadi then ruled him fasiq, cast off his taylasan, and his grandfather's madrasa was taken from his father Abd al-Wahhab and entrusted to Ibn al-Jawzi.
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the great battle at Acre — the sieges fiercest day
The great battle at Acre — the besieging Franks and the relieving army of Saladin in a slaughter unheard of in those days; charge and counter-charge past counting on both sides.
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the Ayyubid shuffle — al-Adil to Aleppo, al-Aziz to Egypt
Saladin moved his brother al-Adil from Egypt to govern Aleppo, and set his son al-Malik al-Aziz Uthman over Egypt in his place.
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al-Adil takes the Khabur and Nisibis and besieges Sinjar
al-Adil took the Khabur district and Nisibis, besieged Sinjar then made peace with Nur al-Din Arslan Shah of Mosul.
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al-Afdal besieges Damascus and turns back
Al-Afdal marched from Egypt, besieged his uncle al-Adil in Damascus, and turned back — the house-war that kept Syria and Egypt trading oaths and betrayals.
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al-Adil's seizure of Damascus
al-Adil's seizure of Damascus, 27 Rajab 592 — after the Asadiyya and Kurds defected from al-Aziz of Egypt to his brother al-Afdal, the Bilbays settlement gave al-Afdal Palestine while al-Adil stayed in Egypt beside al-Aziz; then uncle and nephew marched on Damascus, suborned al-Afdal's favoured amir Ibn Abi Ghalib of Homs who opened the Bab al-Sharqi at 'asr, entered while al-Afdal knew nothing, and read him the order to vacate the citadel.
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Al-Adil takes Jaffa and the Franks take Beirut (593 AH)
Shawwal 593: al-Adil massed the Ayyubid armies at Ayn Jalut, stormed Jaffa's citadel in a day and took all in it as booty and captives. The German-led Frankish relief reached Caesarea too late — their king Henry of Champagne had fallen from a high place at Acre and died, throwing them into confusion. The Ayyubids then razed Beirut's walls; the Franks slipped in, reoccupied it and besieged Tibnin before withdrawing.
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The exchange of Aleppo, from Mosul to Sinjar
In Rajab 577 al-Salih Isma'il ibn Nur al-Din died at Aleppo, having bequeathed it to his cousin Izz al-Din Mas'ud, lord of Mosul, passing over his sister's husband Imad al-Din, lord of Sinjar. Izz al-Din entered Aleppo on 20 Sha'ban. Taqi al-Din Umar, nephew of Salah al-Din, fled from Manbij to Hama, and its people rose under Izz al-Din's emblem. The Aleppo troops urged him to march on Damascus, but he refused, saying 'there is an oath between us, and we shall not betray him.' Imad al-Din then insisted on Aleppo in exchange for Sinjar and threatened to hand Sinjar over to Salah al-Din. The amirs advised yielding Aleppo to him, the most insistent among them being Mujahid al-Din Qaymaz, for fear of Izz al-Din's self-importance. So Imad al-Din took Aleppo and gave Sinjar to his brother, and Izz al-Din returned to Mosul. Salah al-Din in Egypt had found Izz al-Din's possession of Aleppo grievous; when news reached him that Imad al-Din had taken it, he set out for Syria the same day.
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Restoration of al-Aqsa's northern porch
The mosque's northern porch was restored in 1217, and the eastern and western vaults were redone in 1345 and 1350 — so the Aqsa remained in essence a Fatimid building carrying Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk details.
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The scare over the conjunction of six planets in Libra in 582 AH
Al-Imad the chancery secretary records: in this year astrologers in every land agreed the world would be ruined in Sha'ban when the six planets conjoined in Libra, portending a wind like the wind of 'Ad. They frightened the Persians and the Byzantines, who dug caverns and stocked them with water and provisions. When the appointed night came — 'we were sitting with the sultan and the candles burned without stirring; we never saw a night so still'.
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al-Aziz Uthman besieges Damascus
Al-Aziz Uthman ibn Saladin came out of Egypt and besieged Damascus, then held by his brother al-Afdal; he withdrew without it.
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Civil disturbances in Baghdad
Baghdad was convulsed by mob and ayyarun riots — looting and killing until order broke down.
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Baghdad's quarter-wars of 601 AH
601: Baghdad's quarters went to war over dead lions — Bab al-Azj's people killed a lion and meant to parade it triumphantly; the Ma'muniyya barred the procession and swords came out at the Great Orchard. Another lion sparked Qattafa against al-Qariyya; a quarrel set Suq al-Sultan against al-Ja'fariyya in the cemetery — until a great caliphal mamluk patrolled the city killing suspects and the quarters quieted.
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Bakr, lord of Khilat, killed
Bakr, lord of Khilat on Lake Van — the march where Muslims, Armenians and Georgians contested — was killed.
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The Banu Amir sack of Basra (588 AH)
Safar 588: Banu Amir under their amir Umayra stormed Basra — beating the caliphal deputy at the Maydan gate, breaching the wall by night, plundering the shore-khans, then leaving to rout Khafaja and Muntafiq and returning on Monday to finish the sack over two days while the townsfolk fled across the channels; Ibn al-Athir adds he saw the same story with his own eyes in 593.
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The German King's Campaign and His Drowning
In 586, after the Muslim king's taking of Jerusalem alarmed him, the king of the Germans set out — a kind of Franks, the most numerous and fiercest of them — and took the road through Constantinople. The Byzantine ruler sent to Saladin to warn him and promise that he would not let him cross. When the Germans arrived, Saladin could not stop them because of their numbers, but he cut off their supplies, and provisions ran short until they crossed the strait into the realm of Qilij Arslan ibn Mas'ud the Seljuk. The Turkmen rose against them, harrying them and killing any who fell behind; it was winter, the snow lay deep, and cold, hunger and the Turkmen destroyed them. When they neared Konya, Qutb al-Din Malikshah ibn Qilij Arslan came out to block them but had no strength against them. They sent to Qilij Arslan saying they had not come against his lands but against Jerusalem; he allowed his subjects to sell them food and handed over more than twenty emirs as hostages. The German king marched to the land of the Armenians, whose ruler Lafun supplied them with food, then moved toward Antioch and camped by a river on the way, where the king went in to bathe and drowned in a spot where the water reached only to a man's waist. His son succeeded him and marched on Antioch, but the followers quarrelled: some stayed behind and some made a brother of the king their ruler. The force that went on, numbering over forty thousand, was struck by plague and death until it reached Antioch looking as though it had been dug out of graves; only about a thousand men were left, who took ship to the Franks at Acre.
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Battle of al-Fule
Draft card for the Battle of al-Fule in 1183, Saladin's clash with the kingdom of Jerusalem in the Jezreel plain; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The battle of al-Qaymun, 615 AH (1218)
The encounter of al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa ibn al-Adil with the Franks at al-Qaymun in Jumada II 615 AH, while the Franks were besieging Damietta. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi says he defeated them with great slaughter and took a hundred Templar knights captive, bringing them into Jerusalem with their banners reversed, on Thursday 5 Jumada II (or Wednesday), two or three days before al-Adil's death.
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Battle of Antioch on the Meander
Draft card for the Battle of Antioch on the Meander in 1211, where the Sultan of Rum Kaykhusraw was defeated and killed by Nicaea; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Arsuf
Draft card for the Battle of Arsuf in 1191, Richard the Lionheart's victory over Saladin's army during the Third Crusade; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Belvoir Castle
Draft card for the Battle of Belvoir (Kawkab al-Hawa) in 1182, Saladin's clash with the Crusader castle's garrison in Galilee; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Al-Ashraf defeats Kaykawus of Rum near Buza'a, 615 AH (1218)
On Friday 12 Rabi' II 615 AH al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa ibn al-Adil defeated Kaykawus, sultan of Rum, who had marched on Aleppo with al-Afdal of Sumaysat, taken Ra'ban and Tell Bashir and advanced to Manbij. Al-Ashraf came back from Frankish territory to Aleppo, camped at Bab Buza'a with the Bedouin in his van, and when the vanguards met on the Sajur the Rum army broke; al-Ashraf recovered Ra'ban and Tell Bashir.
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Battle of Cresson
Draft card for the Battle of Cresson in 1187, Saladin's destruction of the Templar-Hospitaller force near Nazareth weeks before Hattin; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Hattin
The battle of Hattin was fought in 583/1187 between the forces of Salah al-Din and the combined armies of the Crusader states, at the Horns of Hattin on the heights west of Tiberias. The Encyclopaedia of Islam describes it as the battle that destroyed the power of the Crusaders: some of the Frankish troops, tormented by heat and thirst, were cut down and others fled, and the rest withdrew to the eastern summit. The article on Hattin dates it to 5 July 1187 and the article on Salah al-Din to Saturday 24 Rabi' II 583, equal to 4 July 1187. Many towns and strongholds then surrendered, and Jerusalem on 27 Rajab 583.
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Battle of Jaffa
Draft card for the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, the last action of the Third Crusade between Saladin and Richard; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Jaffa
Draft card for the Battle of Jaffa in 1197, al-Adil's recovery of the town after the Crusaders' renewed push; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The Franks take Beirut from the Muslims in 593
In 593 the Franks took Beirut back from the Muslims; its amir Izz al-Din Shama fled to Sidon.
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Birth of the scholar 'Ala' al-Din Ibn al-Nafis at Damascus, c. 607/1210
'Ala' al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qurashi al-Dimashqi, known as Ibn al-Nafis, was born at Damascus — al-A'lam: 'his origin was the village of Qurash (in Transoxiana) and he was born in Damascus'. He died in 687 AH aged about eighty — the Shadharat margin notes 'he was eighty-four' — placing his birth about 603–607 AH, and the Encyclopaedia makes him 'about 80 (lunar) years' old at death.
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the caliph army routed by Sultan Tughril
The caliph al-Nasir army was routed by Sultan Tughril III — the caliph own fosterling, raised against the atabegs until he held Rayy, Hamadan, Isfahan and Azerbaijan.
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The capture of Shaqif Habs Jaldak (Beaufort, 578 AH)
Safar 578: while the Frankish host massed at Kerak watching Saladin's march from Egypt, Izz al-Din Farrukhshah gathered the Syrian regiments and swept through the emptied Frankish lands — plundering Daburiyya and its villages — and stormed the Shaqif 'Habs Jaldak', the fortress overlooking the Sawad above Tiberias that had long tormented the Muslims; its fall broke the Franks' edge.
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The assassination of the Marquis of Tyre (588 AH)
13 Rabi' II 588 (April 1192): the Marquis of Tyre — 'greatest of the Frankish devils' — was cut down by two Assassins in monks' garb who had spent six months in the households of Sidon's lord and Ibn Barzan winning his trust; wounded at a bishop's banquet, he was carried to a church where one of them, hiding inside, finished him; Ibn al-Athir reports Saladin had offered Sinan ten thousand dinars for the deed or for Richard's, and the Franks blamed the English king.
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al-Aziz's siege of Damascus and the partition settlement (590 AH)
590: al-Aziz of Egypt besieged his elder brother al-Afdal in Damascus — Ibn al-Athir was inside — until al-Adil, al-Zahir of Aleppo, Nasir al-Din of Hama, Asad al-Din Shirkuh of Homs and Mosul's army converged to hold the city, knowing their own lands were next; the settlement gave al-Aziz Jerusalem and Palestine, kept Damascus, Tiberias and the Ghawr for al-Afdal, added Jabla and Latakia to al-Zahir, and restored al-Adil's Egyptian iqta'.
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Death of al-Malik al-Adil and his sons' succession
al-Adil died in extreme old age; al-Kamil took Egypt, al-Mu'azzam Damascus, al-Ashraf the Jazira — all deferring to al-Kamil, so the Ayyubid house held together. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, who was present at the burial, says he fell ill on hearing that the Franks had taken the chain tower of Damietta and died at Aliqin on Friday 7 or 8 Jumada II 615; al-Mu'azzam hid the death, carried him in a litter to the citadel of Damascus and buried him there, and in 619 he was moved to his tomb by the house of al-Aqiqi.
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Death of al-Malik al-Zahir of Aleppo
al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi ibn Saladin, lord of Aleppo, died — the best and justest of the Ayyubids, Ibn al-Athir says; his infant son al-Aziz succeeded.
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death of the atabeg Izz al-Din Masud of Mosul
Izz al-Din Masud ibn Mawdud, atabeg of Mosul, died — after a march into al-Adil country that illness turned back. The last Mawdudid to hold Mosul in effective independence; after him the city passed to the Artuqid Baktimur and into Saladin orbit.
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death of Ibn al-Jawzi — Ramadan 597
In Ramadan died Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi — the Hanbali preacher and historian of al-Muntazam whose works ran to the hundreds, the most famous waiz of the age.
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Death of caliph al-Nasir's son
The caliph al-Nasir's son died; the caliph mourned him deeply and the elegies multiplied.
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Death of Nur al-Din Arslan Shah of Mosul
Nur al-Din Arslan Shah of Mosul died — Ibn al-Athir recalls his valor and notorious stinginess; his young son Izz al-Din Mas'ud II succeeded and the mamluks ruled.
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Death of Salah al-Din and his estate
In 589 sultan Salah al-Din died; the envoy reached Baghdad with his war-standard, his horse, and one dinar with thirty-six dirhams — all the wealth he left. Egypt settled for his son al-Aziz Imad al-Din Uthman, Damascus for al-Afdal Nur al-Din Ali, Aleppo for al-Zahir Ghiyath al-Din Ghazi.
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Death of Salah al-Din at Damascus
In Safar 589 Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadhi died at Damascus. He had ridden out to meet the pilgrims, and on his return he fell ill the same day with a severe illness that lasted eight days. Before the illness he had summoned his son al-Afdal Ali and his brother al-Malik al-Adil Abu Bakr and asked their counsel: 'We are now free of the Franks; where shall we aim?' Al-Adil advised a campaign against Khilat, where he had been promised lands; al-Afdal advised the lands of Rum held by the sons of Qilij Arslan, which were larger, had more troops, were quicker to take, and lay on the Franks' route if they came overland. Salah al-Din said: 'You are both remiss and lacking in resolve. Rather, I shall march on the lands of Rum, and you, Adil, take some of my sons and the army to Khilat; when I have finished I will come to you, and we will enter Azerbaijan and join the lands of the 'Ajam, where none will bar us.' He then let al-Adil set off for al-Karak, and Salah al-Din fell ill and died before al-Adil returned. Ibn al-Athir mentions his forbearance: a mamluk threw a sarmuz at some men and it landed near him, and he turned to the other side and spoke to his companion so as to overlook it. He asked for water five times at one sitting and it was not brought, and he said: 'My companions, by God, thirst has killed me!' Water was brought and he drank, and he did not reproach the delay.
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Killing of Sultan Tughril III, last Seljuk sultan in Iraq
In the year 590 Sultan Tughril ibn Arslan ibn Tughril al-Saljuqi marched on the city of Rayy and raided those there who belonged to Khwarazm-Shah Ala al-Din Tekish. Khwarazm-Shah set out from Nishapur for Rayy, and Qutlugh Inanj ibn al-Bahlawan met him in submission. When Tughril heard of his approach, with his troops scattered, he did not wait to gather them. He was told that what he was doing was not sound judgement and that the right course was to assemble the armies, but he would not accept this, for he had courage. The two armies met near Rayy, and Tughril charged in person into the middle of Khwarazm-Shah's army; they surrounded him, threw him from his horse, and killed him on the 24th of Rabi' I. His head was sent to Khwarazm-Shah, who had it forwarded to Baghdad, where it was displayed for several days at Bab al-Nawbi. Khwarazm-Shah marched on Hamadhan and took all those lands. The caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah had sent an army to his aid, with the sultanic robes, under his vizier Muayyad al-Din ibn al-Qassab. The vizier sent a messenger to summon Khwarazm-Shah to his tent in order to seize him, but Khwarazm-Shah was wary and went to him intending to seize him instead, and the vizier fled into the mountain fastnesses.
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death of Suqman of Amid — his brother Mahmud succeeds
Suqman II al-Artuqi of Amid died and his brother Najm al-Din Mahmud succeeded — the Suqman who had famously defeated Qilij Arslan of Rum.
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death of Zayn al-Din Yusuf of Irbil — Muzaffar al-Din Kokburi succeeds
Zayn al-Din Yusuf ibn Ali Begtegin, lord of Irbil, died; his brother Muzaffar al-Din Kokburi came from Harran and took the city — among the most generous of kings and the closest to scholars.
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Earthquake of 597 AH
The famine of 597 in Egypt when human flesh was sold, then in Sha'ban the great earthquake that struck most of the world — Abu Shama: a tenth of mankind died beneath the rubble, Nablus was razed, and the year's dead were counted at a million and a hundred thousand.
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Egypt army and fleet reach the Acre theater
Egypt field army and its fleet arrived at Acre to reinforce Saladin against the crusader besiegers.
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Muzaffar al-Din of Irbil besieges Mosul
Muzaffar al-Din Kokburi of Irbil besieged Mosul, then withdrew.
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The crucifixion of a man who claimed to be Jesus, Damascus, 595 AH
In 595 a man who claimed to be Isa son of Maryam was crucified at Damascus; he had led a group astray, and the scholars licensed his killing.
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The Franks take Acre and kill the captives
On Friday, 17 Jumada II 587, the Franks took Acre after a long siege. Among the things that most weakened its defenders was that Amir Sayf al-Din Ali ibn Ahmad al-Hakkari, known as al-Mashtub, went out to King Afrinsis offering to hand over the city in exchange for freeing those inside; the king did not answer him, and the people lost heart. Two amirs from within used the night as a mount, secretly took to the sea by boat, and reached the Muslim army, so the city's people were certain of ruin. Al-Mashtub agreed with the Franks to surrender the city for two hundred thousand dinars, five hundred named captives, the return of the Cross of the Crucifixion, and fourteen thousand dinars for the Marquis, lord of Tyre, with two months allowed to collect it. Once they had taken the city, the Franks betrayed those inside and imprisoned them. Saladin gathered a hundred thousand dinars and consulted his amirs, who advised him to send nothing until the Templars guaranteed good faith; the Templars refused to swear or to guarantee, saying they feared treachery from their own side. Saladin, realising their intent to betray, sent nothing. On Tuesday, 27 Rajab, the Franks went out to the outskirts of the city and found most of the Muslims in their hands already slain by the sword; they spared the amirs and those with wealth, to seek ransom from them. Saladin spent the money he had gathered and sent the captives and the cross to Damascus.
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Frankish seaborne raid on the coast and the truce
Large Frankish fleets reached the Syrian coast while the Muslim armies were consumed by the succession wars; a truce followed.
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Frankish raids on Syria
Frankish raids recurred on the Syrian coast and ports while the sultans fought one another.
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Georgians plunder Armenia from the Khilat side
The Georgians came in force into the Khilat region of Armenia, plundering, killing and taking captives.
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The Georgians sack Baylaqan
The Georgians sacked Baylaqan in Arran, razing it and slaughtering its people.
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Birth of Ibn al-Salah at Sharakhan near Shahrazur, 577/1181
Taqi al-Din Abu 'Amr 'Uthman b. 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Uthman b. Musa al-Kurdi al-Shahrazuri — Ibn al-Salah — was born in 577/1181 at Sharakhan, a village in the Irbil district near Shahrazur, into a house of learning: his father Abu al-Qasim Salah al-Din was the shaykh of that district.
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Ibn al-Salah teaches at the Salahiyya madrasa in Jerusalem on his second tour, c. 618
On his second tour of al-Sham, Ibn al-Salah taught in Jerusalem at the Salahiyya madrasa, the school named after al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf b. Ayyub; he stayed a while and the people studied under him and benefited.
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The demolition of Jerusalem's walls brings Ibn al-Salah to Damascus: the Rawahiyya post, c. 619
When al-Malik al-Mu'azzam had Jerusalem's walls demolished, Ibn al-Salah came to Damascus and was given the teaching post of the Rawahiyya. The demolition began on the first day of Muharram 616; the people fled, some to Damascus, and Ibn al-Salah settled there for the rest of his life, teaching at the Rawahiyya, then the Ashrafiyya and the Shamiyya.
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Ibn al-Salah's first hadith journey at about twenty-four: Baghdad, Dubays and Hamadan, c. 601
When he was a little over twenty, Ibn al-Salah set out for Baghdad, where he heard hadith from Abu Ahmad 'Abd al-Wahhab b. Sukayna and 'Umar b. Tabarzad; at Dubays from Isma'il b. Ibrahim al-Khazzaz; and at Hamadan from Abu al-Fadl b. al-Mu'azzim and a group.
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Ibn al-Salah studies fiqh under his father at Shahrazur, then repeats for Ibn Yunus at Mosul, c. 590
Ibn al-Salah read fiqh under his father Salah at Shahrazur, whose father was the district's shaykh, then was taken to Mosul where he studied a while and excelled in the madhhab; Ibn Khallikan reports that he repeated the whole of the 'Muhadhdhab' before his beard had grown, then took the post of repeater (mu'id) under the scholar al-Imad Ibn Yunus, and heard at Mosul from 'Ubayd Allah b. al-Samin, Nasr Allah b. Salama al-Hayti, 'Abd al-Muhsin the khatib of Mosul and others.
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Ibn al-Salah enters al-Sham in 617 or earlier: Damascus, Aleppo and Harran, 617/1220
Ibn al-Salah entered al-Sham in 617/1220 or earlier, hearing from al-Muwaffaq, the shaykh of the Hanbalis Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi, from Zayn al-Umana' and from al-Muwaffaq's brother the mufti Fakhr al-Din. He had already come to Damascus before, hearing from the qadi Jamal al-Din ibn al-Harastani; at Aleppo he heard Abu Muhammad ibn al-Ustadh, and at Harran the hafiz 'Abd al-Qadir.
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Ibn al-Jawzi released and returns to Baghdad, 595/1198–9
Ibn al-Jawzi was set free from his exile at Wasit in 595/1198–9 on the intervention of the caliph al-Nasir's mother, a very devout woman whose sympathy had been gained by one of the preacher's sons, the shaykh Muhyi al-Din Yusuf, who was to make his career in the service of the caliphate. Ibn al-Jawzi made a triumphant return to Baghdad, but died soon after, in 597.
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Ibn al-Jawzi arrested and exiled to Wasit, 590/1194
The dismissal and arrest of the Hanbali vizier Ibn Yunus and the appointment of the Shafiʿi Ibn al-Nasir to the vizierate in 590/1194 marked the beginning of Ibn al-Jawzi's disgrace — he had written, at a date not known precisely, a refutation of al-Nasir's policy. In the same year he was arrested, without good reason it is said, put under the guard of a Shiʿi and sent to live under house arrest at Wasit, where he remained in exile for five years.
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Ibn Jubayr in Baghdad
Ibn Jubayr stayed at Baghdad describing the Nizamiyya college, the quarter of Abd al-Qadir and its markets.
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Ibn Jubayr sets out from Granada
In Safar 578/1183 Ibn Jubayr left Granada for the hajj, crossing the sea by way of Ceuta and the west.
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Ibn Jubayr's hajj, 579 AH
Ibn Jubayr performed the hajj of 579/1183, standing at Arafat and staying months at Mecca describing the Ka'ba, the tawaf and the sanctuary.
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Ibn Jubayr reaches Alexandria
Ibn Jubayr reached Alexandria — its lighthouse, its colleges, the dar al-adl and Sultan Saladin.
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Ibn Jubayr visits Medina
Ibn Jubayr visited Medina describing the Prophet's mosque, the tomb, the Rawda and Quba.
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Ibn Jubayr shipwrecked to Sicily
The ship carrying Ibn Jubayr was wrecked off Sicily; King William II rescued the passengers and he landed at Palermo.
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Ibn Jubayr returns to Granada
Ibn Jubayr returned to Granada in 581/1185 after two years' travel and wrote his rihla, the Tadhkira.
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Ibn Layun the Armenian raids the Aleppo countryside
Ibn Layun the Armenian, lord of the Passes, launched repeated raids on Aleppo's territories.
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Jalal al-Din reaches Khuzistan and Iraq
Jalal al-Din, fresh from defeat by the Mongols, reached Khuzistan and Iraq and gathered a new army.
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Demolition of the walls of Jerusalem, 616
At the start of 616 al-Malik al-Mu'azzam had the walls of Jerusalem destroyed, out of fear and helplessness lest the Franks take it. Work on the wall began on the first day of Muharram. The people cried out; secluded women, girls, old men and women, and young men went out to the Sakhra and al-Aqsa, cut their hair, and fled, leaving their property behind, sure that the Franks would reach them by morning. Some fled to Egypt, some to al-Karak, some to Damascus; multitudes died of hunger and thirst; the wealth they had in Jerusalem was plundered; and a qintar of oil was sold for ten dirhams. The people blamed al-Malik al-Mu'azzam.
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The Khilat rising and massacre
A rising at Khilat ended in the slaughter of many of its people.
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Khwarazmshah's march on Baghdad and the snow that turned him back
Khwarazmshah, grown mighty over Khurasan and Transoxiana, cut the Abbasid khutba from his lands and marched on Baghdad; at Hamadan twenty days of out-of-season snow buried his host — 'God's wrath that you aim at the house of prophecy', a courtier said — and news that the Turkic peoples had rallied behind him turned him back; the Nasir was spared without battle. In 592 he crossed the Jayhun with fifty thousand demanding the sultanate and the caliph's tutelage as in Seljuk days; the caliph razed the dar al-saltana and returned his envoy unanswered.
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Badr al-Din Lu'lu' seizes Mosul, 621
In 621 Badr al-Din Lu'lu' seized Mosul and strangled Mahmud b. al-Qahir, son of his ustadh, claiming he had died a natural death; effective Zangid rule at Mosul ended, Lu'lu' ruling in fact under the Atabeg name until he took the sultanate openly in 631.
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The Mongol Sweep through Jibal, Azerbaijan and Georgia
In 617 the Mongols reached Rayy in pursuit of Khwarazm-shah, catching its people off guard; they seized and plundered it, took the women captive, enslaved the children, and moved on at speed. Along their way they plundered every city and village, doing many times what they had done at Rayy, until they reached Hamadan; its ruler came out with money, garments and mounts seeking safe-conduct, and they granted it and then left, marching on to Zanjan, where they did many times over the same. Then Qazvin: its people sheltered in the city and fought them, but they entered it by storm, and the fighting went on inside until they were cutting one another with knives; more than forty thousand dead were counted among the people of Qazvin. When winter came upon them they went to Azerbaijan and reached Tabriz, where its lord Uzbek ibn al-Bahlawan did not even consider fighting them, being occupied with heavy drinking night and day; he made peace with them for money, garments and mounts. They then went to the sea coast to winter there, and pushed out toward Georgia, where some ten thousand Georgians fought them; they were routed and most of them killed. A Turkic mamluk of Uzbek's named Aqush joined the Mongols; he gathered the Turkmen and Kurds and corresponded with the Mongols, who inclined toward him on account of their shared stock, and he marched at their head into Georgia, until the Georgians gathered near Tiflis. Aqush met them first and they fought fiercely; the Mongols caught up with them when they were exhausted, and they were routed in the worst defeat, in Dhu'l-Qa'da. Ibn al-Athir says: by God, I have no doubt that whoever comes after us, once the time has grown distant and he reads this event written down, will deny it and find it hard to credit, and the truth is in his hands.
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Al-Mu'azzam forces the qadi Zaki al-Din to wear the qaba' and kalawta, 616 AH (1219)
In 616 AH al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa sent the qadi of Damascus, Zaki al-Din, a bundle containing a qaba' and a kalawta — soldiers' dress — and ordered him to sit in judgement wearing them; he put them on and judged between two litigants, then fell ill and died. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, one of al-Mu'azzam's intimates, tells it, calls it 'one of al-Mu'azzam's blunders', and gives the causes: al-Mu'azzam's complaint that the qadi did not enforce judgements, his visit to Sitt al-Sham's house without leave, and his having the collector of the Aziziyya madrasa beaten in court.
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Muslim–Georgian war in Armenia
Heavy fighting ran between the Muslims and the Georgians in Armenia.
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Najm al-Din ibn al-Adil given Khilat
al-Adil granted his son Najm al-Din Ayyub the city of Khilat and its Armenian dependencies.
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al-Nasir's vizier Nasir al-Din dismissed
The caliph al-Nasir dismissed his long-serving vizier Nasir al-Din.
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al-Nasir builds the Nizamiyya library and the Harim-gate ribat
The caliph al-Nasir ordered the Nizamiyya library built in Baghdad, and in Rabi I the ribat he had founded by the Harim gate was finished — part of the caliphate-revival building program.
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Nur al-Din Arslan Shah of Mosul defeated by al-Adil's armies
Nur al-Din Arslan Shah of Mosul was routed by al-Adil's forces when the two armies met.
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Al-Qifti leaves Jerusalem for Aleppo, 598/1201
The disturbances that followed Salah al-Din's death forced al-Qifti to leave in 598/1201 for Aleppo, where the protection and encouragement of a friend of his father let him resume his scholarly pursuits for several years.
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Al-Malik al-Zahir puts al-Qifti over Aleppo's diwan of finances, c. 606/1210
The Atabeg of Aleppo, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, placed al-Qifti in charge of the diwan of finances — a task he undertook only reluctantly, but which brought him the honorific title al-Qadi al-Akram; the date is approximate within al-Zahir's reign (582–613), before his death and al-Qifti's resignation in 613.
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Al-Qifti moves to Jerusalem with his father, 583/1187
After his early education in Cairo, al-Qifti went in 583/1187 to Jerusalem, where his father had been appointed deputy to the Qadi al-Fadil, Salah al-Din's famous chancellor and adviser; he spent many years there as a student, already gathering the material for his later works.
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Al-Malik al-Aziz reappoints al-Qifti over the diwan of finances, 616/1219
Three years after his resignation, al-Malik al-Aziz Muhammad ibn al-Zahir appointed al-Qifti to the same post over the diwan of finances, which he then held without interruption until 628/1230.
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Al-Qifti resigns on al-Malik al-Zahir's death, 613/1216
When al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi died in 613/1216 al-Qifti resigned; three years later al-Zahir's successor al-Malik al-Aziz Muhammad restored him to the same post.
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Prince Reynald's treachery — the Kerak lord breaks the truce
Reynald de Chatillon, lord of Kerak and al-Shawbak, betrayed the truce: he seized a caravan passing from Egypt to Syria, jailed its merchants in his castle, and plundered their goods. King Guy denounced it and demanded restitution; Reynald refused — one of the greatest causes of the war.
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Rukn al-Din takes Malatya from his brother — and Erzurum
Rukn al-Din Sulayman Shah the Seljuk took Malatya from his brother and Erzurum, gathering the Rum lands fragmented among the princes into one hand — the greatest Seljuk kingship since the sultans.
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Salah al-Din recovers Jerusalem
In 583 Salah al-Din took many Frankish-held towns of Syria — Jerusalem greatest of them, ninety-one years in their hands. He cleared their traces, razed their new churches, built a Shafi'i school on one site, yet spared the Holy Sepulchre as Umar had before him. Ibn Barrajan had read in 'Alif Lam Mim — the Romans were defeated' that Jerusalem would stay Roman till 583, then be a house of Islam for ever — 'one of the strangest coincidences', says Abu Shama, 'and Ibn Barrajan died long before'.
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Saladin's Karak siege — the rabd taken, the sixty-cubit ditch
In Rabi II Saladin marched on al-Karak: the mangonels took the outwork town, but between it and the keep ran a ditch sixty cubits deep. He had timber-and-brick galleries built so men could fill it under cover while his stones flew day and night; the garrison summoned every Frank, and Saladin lifted the siege to meet the relief host.
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Saladin takes Mayyafariqin
Saladin took Mayyafariqin and its Diyar Bakr dependencies after the Mosul truce, extending his Jaziran realm.
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Salah al-Din takes the north and Aleppo in 578
In 578 Salah al-Din swept the north — Harran, Saruj, Sinjar, Nisibis and al-Raqqa — besieged Mosul till the caliph's envoy ordered him off, then took Aleppo from Izz al-Din Mas'ud in exchange for Sinjar.
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Salah al-Din's siege of Mosul and the settlement of Shahrazur in 581
In 581 Salah al-Din besieged Mosul; its people fought their hardest and its strength turned him back. He took Mayyafariqin by safe-conduct, returned to the siege, and peace came on terms: the khutba in his name, the city's lord his liege, and Shahrizur and its fortresses ceded. He withdrew, then fell gravely ill at Harran until his death was rumoured and the hair of his beard and head fell out.
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Sanjar's revolt in Khuzistan and his surrender (606–608 AH)
Al-Nasir's mamluk-governor of Khuzistan, Qutb al-Din Sanjar, drifted into covert rebellion in 606; the caliphal army chased him into the protection of the Salghurid Atabeg Sa'd of Shiraz, wintered at Arrajan, and took his surrender under safe-conduct — Sanjar entered Baghdad on a pack-mule with two chains on his legs and confessed before the assembled amirs and notables.
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Shaqif Arnun — Beaufort falls
Saladin took Shaqif Arnun — Beaufort — a Frankish eagle nest on the high rock between Sidon and Banyas.
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Shihab al-Din Ghazi rebels against his brother al-Ashraf and takes Khilat
Shihab al-Din Ghazi rose against his brother al-Ashraf and wrested Khilat from him before al-Ashraf took it back.
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Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi's procession of women's hair and the march to Nablus, 606
In 606 Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi sat in Damascus's congregational mosque exhorting to jihad; women had cut their braids for him — he told of Abu Qudama of Damascus and the woman who sent her hair saying 'make it a rein for your horse in God's path' — and he had them made into bridles for the mujahidin's mounts; when he mounted the pulpit and they were brought out, they were three hundred bridles, and the people cried out and cut as many again. The governor of Damascus and the notables were present; when he descended, the governor walked with the Sibt, and the people rode out through the prayer-ground gate in uncounted numbers, marched to Nablus to fight the Franks, took prisoners and killed, and returned safe and laden.
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Sibt ibn al-Jawzi's session in the Damascus mosque and march to Nablus, 607 AH
Sibt ibn al-Jawzi relates that he held a session in the Damascus mosque on Saturday 5 Rabi' I 607 AH, with a crowd estimated at thirty thousand, and had three hundred hobbles for the fighters' horses, made from hair that had been given him, carried in, whereupon people cut off their own hair likewise; he then led them to Nablus for the campaign, where al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa met him, and they raided Frankish territory. Ibn al-Imad places the episode in 606 AH.
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Siege of Acre
Draft card for the Siege of Acre from 1189 to 1191, the Third Crusade's long investment that ended with the Crusaders retaking the city from Saladin; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Aleppo (1183)
Draft card for Siege of Aleppo (1183); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Belvoir Castle
Draft card for the Siege of Belvoir in 1187–89, Saladin's recovery of the Hospitaller castle; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Kerak
Draft card for the Siege of Kerak in 1183, Saladin's assault on Reynald of Châtillon's castle during the wedding feast; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Laodicea (1188)
Draft card for the Siege of Laodicea in 1188, Saladin's capture of the port after Hattin; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Safed (1188)
Draft card for the Siege of Safed in 1188, of Saladin's conquests after Hattin; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Sahyun Castle (1188)
Draft card for the Siege of Sahyun in 1188, Saladin's capture of the Crusader castle after Hattin; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Shushtar (1225)
Draft card for Siege of Shushtar (1225); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Tyre
Draft card for the Siege of Tyre in 1187, Saladin's failed attempt on the last Crusader port after Hattin; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Killing of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi in Aleppo, 587
In 587 the philosopher Shihab al-Din Yahya al-Suhrawardi was killed at Aleppo. He had come there famous; al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, Salah al-Din's son, sat him in session, his brilliance dazzled, and the prince attached himself to him. The scholars marked him for heresy, drew up a warrant of unbelief, and warned Salah al-Din he would corrupt his son's creed — so the sultan ordered him killed without further consultation. Offered the manner of his death, he chose starvation, for austerity was his habit; food was withheld till he perished, aged thirty-six. Sayf al-Amidi: 'I saw him — much learning, little sense'.
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the Mosul truce — Saladin and the atabeg Izz al-Din Masud
Saladin returned to Mosul and made peace with the atabeg Izz al-Din Masud ibn Mawdud — each confirmed in his lands, bound to aid against any aggressor.
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The Franks besiege and demolish Qal'at al-Tur
The Franks besieged and razed Qal'at al-Tur on the Egyptian coast, then turned on Damietta.
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the Turkmen-Kurd war across the Jazira and Mosul
A great fitna ran between the Turkmen and the Kurds through the Jazira and Mosul until the lands filled with dead and plunder — among the greatest disturbances of that country.
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The Strife between the Turkmens and the Kurds
In 581 AH a strife broke out between the Turkmens and the Kurds in al-Jazira, Mosul, Diyar Bakr, Khilat, al-Sham, Shahrazur and Azerbaijan. Countless people were killed, it lasted several years, the roads were cut, property was plundered and blood was shed. Its cause: a Turkmen woman was married, and her wedding procession passed a fortress of the Kurdish Zawzan; her people asked for a wedding feast and were refused, and the lord of the fortress killed the groom. The strife then flared, the two sides turned on one another and the evil grew, until Mujahid al-Din Qaymaz gathered the leaders of both groups, reconciled them, and gave them robes and money, and it ended.
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The Killing of the Batiniyya in Wasit
In Ramadan of this year the Batiniyya were killed in Wasit. The cause was that a man known as al-Rakm, Muhammad ibn Talib ibn Asiya, originally from al-Qarub, a village of Wasit, and a Batini, came to the city and settled beside the houses of the Banu al-Harawi. People flocked to him and his following grew. Among those who frequented him was a man known as Hasan al-Sabuni. It happened that he passed through al-Suwayqa, where a carpenter spoke to him about their doctrine; al-Sabuni answered him roughly, and the carpenter rose and killed him. When the people heard of it they rose up and killed whoever they found who claimed that doctrine. They made for the house of Ibn Asiya, where his companions had gathered; they had closed the door and climbed onto the roof. The people climbed up to them from the neighboring houses, broke open the mamariq, killed whoever they found in the house, burned it, and killed Ibn Asiya. When the news reached Baghdad, Fakhr al-Din Abu al-Badr ibn Amsina al-Wasiti went down to put matters right and calm the strife.
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The massacre of the Batinis at Wasit (601 AH)
Ramadan 601: Wasit turned on its Batini cell — when a carpenter killed the soap-seller who answered him harshly over the creed, the crowd lynched every Batini they found, stormed the missionary Ibn Asiyya's fortified house from the rooftops, slew him and burned it; the notable Fakhr al-Din ibn Amsina came down from Baghdad to quiet the fitna.
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the caliph's vizier marches on and takes Khuzistan
Al-Nasir sent his vizier against Khuzistan and took it — the castle of Susiyan ibn Shamla falling to Baghdad when its dead lord sons quarreled and one wrote the caliph offering the keys.
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The Damascus affair: a debate that nearly cost Yaqut his life, and his flight, 613/1216
He went to Damascus in 613/1216 and sat in one of its markets, where he debated a Baghdadi partisan of a Companion; the exchange led him to speak of the Companion in an impermissible way, the crowd rose and nearly killed him, and when the report reached the governor al-Mu'tamad al-Mawsili he was sought — but had already fled, terrified, to Aleppo. He had earlier read Kharijite books, and a strong streak of them had stuck in his mind.
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Yaqut flees Khwarazm before the Mongols to Mosul, then Aleppo, 617/1220
At Khwarazm Yaqut met the Mongol outbreak and fled 'like one raised from his grave on the Day of Resurrection', suffering on the way hardships that tire the tongue to describe; he reached Mosul with his means exhausted. From Mosul in 617/1220 — or 618 — he wrote al-Qifti a letter describing his distress at the Mongol advance, then moved to Sinjar and on to Aleppo.
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Yaqut manumitted and dismissed by Askar al-Hamawi, 596/1199
A quarrel obliged Askar to emancipate Yaqut and send him away in 596/1199-1200. He became a copyist for hire — between 596 and 603 he copied three hundred mujallads — and reading brought him profit of another kind; his former master later relented and took him back as a mudaraba partner.
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Yaqut returns from Kish to find his former master dead, and takes to the book trade, 606/1209
His former master sent him to Kish as a mudarib; on his return in 606/1209 he found Askar dead. He gave the widow and sons their satisfaction, kept the remainder as his capital and travelled with it, making books part of his trade. Selling books in Baghdad drew him to rare manuscripts and introduced him to the leading scholars of the Islamic world.
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The draft of the Mujam al-Buldan finished at Aleppo, 20 Safar 621/13 March 1224
Yaqut finished the draft of his Mujam al-Buldan at Aleppo — not at Mosul, as is often thought — on 20 Safar 621/13 March 1224, and gave an autograph copy to al-Qifti's library. The work ranges beyond geography into literary matter and biographies of the notables of each place.
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Yaqut presented to the vizier al-Qadi al-Akram al-Qifti at Aleppo, 609/1212
On his Baghdad–Syria–Tabriz–Baghdad circuit (607-10), the book agent Abu Ali al-Qilawi presented Yaqut in 609/1212 to the Qadi al-Akram Ibn al-Kifti (al-Qifti), vizier of Aleppo, carrying his gathered books. Al-Qifti records: 'There were but two books in them that I bought from him; I studied his looks and his talk, divined things in him that my intuition did not belie, and I knew he was not fit for company'.
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The child Yaqut sold in Baghdad to the merchant Askar al-Hamawi, c. 580/1184
Taken captive while still very young in Byzantine territory, Yaqut was carried to Baghdad at the age of five or six and bought by the barely literate merchant Askar ibn al-Nasr al-Hamawi, who named him Yaqut — the customary gemstone name for a mawla — and gave him a Qur'anic schooling so he could serve the business; among his later teachers were Abu al-Baqa' al-Ukbari and Ibn Ya'ish.
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Yaqut's trading journeys for his master: Kish, Oman and Syria, c. 593/1197
His master Askar employed Yaqut on his trading ventures: he shuttled to the island of Kish, to Oman — most of whose people were then Ibadi Kharijis — and to Syria; one itinerary ran Baghdad–Amid–Syria–Baghdad in 593-4/1197-8. On these journeys he read and met scholars until a real scholarly temperament formed in him.
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al-Zahir Ghazi takes Manbij and is besieged
Al-Zahir Ghazi ibn Saladin took Manbij and its region, was besieged in it by his Ayyubid rivals, then made peace.