The Nāṣirī Generations 110.6

110.6

Ibn Asir says, that, when Salah-ud-Din had become firmly established, Nur-ud-Din sent to command him to give up reading the Khutbah for ’Azid, and to read it for the ’Abbasi Khalifahs. Salah-ud-Din excused himself by saying that the people were well-inclined towards the present family, and he feared, if he obeyed, that an insurrection would take place. Nur-ud-Din, however, wrote the second and the third time to order him to do so, and Salah-ud-Din, not daring to disobey the reiterated commands of his suzerain, was in a dilemma, but it so happened that ’Azid was about this time taken ill. Salah-ud-Din now consulted with the chiefs and nobles as to what should be done; but some said one thing and some another, and the difficulty was as great as before. At this juncture, a person of some note, named Amir-i-’Alim [Guzidah calls him Najm-ud-Din], an ’Ajami, who had come to Misr, offered to take the initiative, if permitted; and, on the first Friday in the month of Muharram, before the Khatib [the preacher who pronounces the Khutbah] entered the pulpit, this ’Ajami got into it, and prayed for the ‘Abbasi Khalifah, Imam Mustazi B’nur-Ullah. The Misris who were present made no objection, and the next Friday Salah-ud-Din directed that the Khutbah for ’Azid should be discontinued at Kahirah and at Misr [the old capital], and that for Mustazi B’nur-Ullah adopted, and also in other parts of the Diyar-i-Misriah.