Shata son of al-Bamrak, of Damietta

Shata, son of al-Bamrak, lord of Damietta, is a figure of the Futuh al-Sham ascribed to al-Waqidi. The book tells of his conversion and of his death fighting the lord of Tinnis in 20 AH, and says that his grave came to be visited every year on the night of mid-Sha'ban. Everything here is the book's own account, and the book's attribution to al-Waqidi is disputed. ^{3 4}

The book describes him as the wisest of the sons of al-Bamrak, uncle of the Muqawqis: from his youth he followed and sat with scholars and sought knowledge; he wished to build a hermitage and live apart, but his father, who loved him dearly, would not let him; and he loved to hear and search out reports about the Prophet ﷺ. ³

When the Companions entered Damietta through the breach, as told in the conquest of Damietta in the Futuh al-Sham, the book relates that Shata gazed up at the sky, cried out and fell from his horse. When he came to, he told his father he had seen a great light over the Muslim army, men in green clothes and two domes hanging in the air; then he pronounced the profession of faith and said, "Whoever of my men and servants loves me, let him follow me." A thousand men followed him, and then his father embraced Islam. ^{3 5}

His father proposed writing to Abu Thawb, lord of Tinnis — in the book's account a Christian Arab of the Ghassanids from the region of al-Arish, whom the Muqawqis had made governor of Tinnis — and Shata said, "I will be the messenger to him myself." He sailed there with four of his servants and Yazid ibn Amir. ^{5 6}

Abu Thawb gathered his forces and crossed to Damietta. Shata fought all day, then spent the night in prayer and saw a dream that made him weep; the book tells that he bade his father farewell, saying, "The meeting with the beloved is near." He came out and killed twelve horsemen, then Abu Thawb came out against him and pierced his chest with his lance, and he fell. ^{7 8 4}

The book relates from Ibn Ishaq that they prayed over him and buried him in his clothes where he fell, and that his father later saw him in a dream. It then reports, with its own chain: "Shata was killed on the night of mid-Sha'ban, and that night was made a season for him every year, for there was no one left who did not visit his grave that night." ⁴ This report of the season shows that the visit was known in the time of whoever shaped the account, though the book does not say when that was.