Ibn Wasif Shah
IBN WASIF SHAH (d. 1203 A.D.)
Historian of Egypt and the Maghrib, quoted by Maqrizi. MS: Cairo, Billb.Nat. , MS hist. 2255 Ed.: (partly) 'Mus'ad, pp. 121 - 123. T.: Mus'ad A:0
When the caliphate passed to the Abbasids and 'Ab¬dalla as-Saffāh seized the power, 'Abdalla b. Άlī went to Syria to hunt the remnants of the Omayyads. Then he sent to arrest 'Ubaydalla b. Marwān the emir of Egypt. Then 'Ubaydalla was informed about this move, he hastened to his treasury, took out ten thousand gold dinars and ordered that twelve mules be brought and loaded with carpets (firash), cloth (qumāsh) and other precious things; then he tied a leather strap (kharīta) full of precious jewels around his waist, took with him his servants and attendants (qhilmān) and fled from Fustat (Miṣr) towards Nubia. When he arrived in Nubia he found towns in ruins, but the castles were well built; so he settled in one of them and ordered his attendants to have it swept. Then they spread his carpets (there).
He ordered one of his trusted attendants to go to the king of the Nubians and ask permission for him to settle in his kingdom and (grant him) a safe-conduct. When the attendant met the king, he saluted him and then asked permission to dwell in his kingdom and obtained from him the safe-conduct for 'Ubaydalla. Then the king sent one of his messengers to accompany him back. When the messenger arrived he said to 'Ubaydalla: "The King gives you his 'salām' and asks: 'Have you come here to wage war or to seek protection?" He answered: "Peace be with you! Tell him that I have come to seek protection against an enemy who wants to kill me."
When the messenger returned to the king and informed him about it, the king was anxious to meet him personally. When he arrived, the emir 'Ubaydalla rose up, descended from his thick carpet (martaba) and invited him to sit on it, but the king refused and pushed the carpet away with his foot saying: "Every king who does not humble himself to God is a proud, stubborn and vain glorious man." Then he sat and began tracing signs with his fingers on the ground. Then, turning to the emir, he said: "How is it that your kingdom has been stripped out of your hands, while you are the closest relation to your Prophet?" The emir said: "He who took the kingdom out of our hands is a closer relation to our Prophet than we are." Then (the king) asked: "How is it that you dis¬obey the words of your Prophet and drink wine, which God has forbidden you, and wear silk tunics and ride on gilded saddles, none of which your Prophet ever did? It has also been reported to us that while you were emir of Egypt, you used to go out hunting and exacted from the population of the villages such supplies that they could not afford, and you used to destroy their cultivations and receive gifts from the peasants?" The king of Nubia went on enumerating to the emir 'Ubaydaila many trespasses, while he was standing silent. The King then said to him: "Because you have allowed to your selves to do what God has forbidden you, (God's) punishment has befallen you. I fear for myself that, if I of¬fer you hospitality, God's anger may fall also upon me because of you- In fact, favor is a privilege, but punishment is general. Therefore, depart from me within three days, or shall I take all your goods and put you to the most shameful death." As the emir 'Ubaydalla heard this speech, he immediately left the country of the Nuba and went back to Egypt where the agent of the caliph Al-Mansūr arrested him and sent him to Baghdad where Al-Mansūr put him in Jail until he died.
