Usama Ibn Munqidh
USAMA IBN MUNQIDH (1095-1168 A.D.,)
Abū Muzaffar Usāma ibn Munqidh al-Kinānī, a Syrian-Arab emir and an ardent supporter of the Fatimite dynasty of Egypt, was invited to become the adviser of the vizier Sālih b. Ruzzīk, under the reign of al-Ḥāfiẓ (1130-1149 A.D.). He eye-witnessed the last years of the Fatimite dynasty in Egypt and returned to Damascus under Saladin. He wrote his memoirs, Kitāb al-I'tibār, which is an invaluable source for the history of Egypt unoer az-Zāfir (1149-1154 A.D.).
Kitāb al-I'tibār was first edited and translated into French by H. Derenbourg, Vie d'Ousama Ibn Mounkidh, un Emir syrien au premier siècle des Croisades, Paris, I (Arabic) 1886, II (French) 1893. It was translated into English by Ph. K. Hitti, Memories of an Arab-Syrian gentleman in the Crusades (from the unique MS) Beirut, 1964.
T.: Derenbourg 1 and Hitti A:Hitti
As (Afḍal Riḍwān) left Miṣr on his way to Syria, his residence was plundered and his women folk were carried off. A man by name al-Qā'id Muqbil saw a girl (jāriya) being carried off by some Blacks: he bought her from them and sent her to his own house. He had a good wife. The girl climbed to a room in the upper part of the house and the housewife heard her saying: "We have vanquished him who oppressed us (baghā 'alav-nā also = "to commit adultery") and showed no gratitude for our favour". The housewife asked her: - "Who are you?" and she answered: "I am Qatr an-nadā, the daughter of Riḍwān." The woman went immediately to her husband al-Qā'id Muqbil who was on duty at the gate of the castle (Qaṣr). She informed him about the identity of the girl. He wrote a note to al-Ḥāfiẓ about the situation, and (al-Ḥāfiẓ) sent some slaves (khuddām) of the castle to take her from the house of Muqbil and bring her to the castle. (Derenbourg, p. 22).
(Riḍwān, from Syria) wrote to al-Ḥāfiẓ asking for safe conduct; then he returned to Egypt. No sooner had he arrived than al-Ḥāfiẓ ordered that he be arrested with his son; both were put in jail. I arrived in Egypt (Miṣr) while he was still in jail (habs) in a house near the Palace. He made a breach (in the wall) with iron rods, 14 cubits long, and escaped on the night of Thursday. Among the emirs there was one of his relatives who was aware of the situation and stood by the castle together with an accomplice from the Lawāta, awaiting him. They went to the Nile, crossed (the bridge) to Gīza. The city of Cairo (al-qāhira) was shocked by his escape. At dawn he was already at Gīza and the people gathered around him. The army of Miṣr (‘askar Miṣr) got ready the preparations to fight him. On Friday morning (the army) crossed to Cairo, led by Qalraaz, the officer in charge of the gate, and was equipped with breast-plates to join battle. When the army reached Riḍwān, he defeated them and entered Cairo. I and my men, we were entering the gate of the castle Just before he arrived in Cairo.
I found the gate closed, and nobody standing by. So I went to my residence. Riḍwān went to al-Aqmar mosque. The emirs joined him and brought him food and more pro¬visions. Al-Hafiz gathered a corps of Black troops (qawm min as-sūdān) who were in the Castle; they ate and drank, then al-Hafiz opened the gate of the Palace and they went to attack Riḍwān. As soon as (their) shouts were heard, the emirs who were with Riḍwān mounted on their horses and fled. Riḍwān came out from the mosque and found that his horse had been taken by the groom who vanished. A man of the special guard (sibyān al-khāss) saw him standing by the door of the mosque and said to him: - "My Lord (mawlāyā) why don't you ride my horse?" He said: "Oh yes!" and rushed towards him, holding his sword by the hand. He simulated to dismount from his horse, but he (instead) struck Riḍwān by the sword, and he fell. The sūdān fell upon him and killed him and the population of Miṣr divided his flesh among themselves to eat as to become courageous (like him). (ibid., p. 23).
[A Mutiny among the Nubian Forces in Egypt]
My arrival in Cairo was on Thursday, 2nd of Jumada al-Akhira of the year 539 (30th November 1144 A.D.) ... A great dispute and trouble developed among the sūdān, who were found (in Cairo) in great numbers. Precisely, the dispute was between the Zanjānīyya (Rayḥānīyya) who are the slaves ('abīd) of al-Ḥāfiẓ; and the Juyushīyya, the Iskandārānīyya and the Farjīyya. On the one side stood the Zanjānīyya alone, on the other gathered all the other factions allied against the Zanjānīyya (Rayḥānīyya). A party of the special guard (sibyān al-khāss) joined the Juyushīyya. Many people had assembled on both sides. Al-Ḥāfiẓ kept indoors, but his emissaries were going back and forth between the factions, because he [al-Ḥāfiẓ] was anxious to bring peace among them. Although they [the troops] were siding with him, they did not yield to that (request). On the next morning, a clash took place in Cairo. The Juyushīyya and their allies won the victory over the Zanjānīyya (Rayḥānīyya), of whom one thousand fell in Suwayga amīr al-jūyūsh (the Little Market of the Emir al-Jūyūsh). We had remained under arms by night and day lest they might turn against us, as they had already done on an occasion prior to my arrival in Egypt. After such a slaughter of Zanjānīyya (Rayḥānīyya), the population expected that al-Ḥāfiẓ would manifest his disapproval of that Incident, and execute the murderers. But al-Ḥāfiẓ was lying sick on the verge of death, and actually died two days later. Then "not even two goats locked their horns" (to dispute over the succession) and aẓ-Ẓāfir, his youngest son, reigned. (ibid., pp. 26 - 27).
Ibn Maṣṣāl enrolled in the Ḥawf a large troop con¬sisting of Lawātha (sic! for Lawāta), of soldiers of the Egyptian army (jund Miṣr), of Blacks (sūdān) and Arab nomads (‘urban). Ibn Maṣṣāl was killed together with seven¬teen thousand sūdān ... During that revolt a great number of Egyptians and sūdān were slain. (ibid., pp. 27 - 29 passim).
