مسالك الابصار في ممالك الامصار 2.99

2.99

The jurist Abū al-Ṣafāʾ ʿUmar b. Isḥāq al-Shiblī told me that this Sultan never parts from the scholars, whether travelling or at home [1]. He said: We were with him on one of his campaigns, and while we were on the way, letters bearing glad tidings of victories came to him from the vanguard of his armies while we were in his presence. He was delighted and said: 'This is through the blessing of these scholars.' Then he ordered that they enter the treasury and carry from it as much as they could, and that any of them who was weak should appoint someone to carry that money for him. He said: They entered the treasury, but neither I nor many like me entered, because we were not of that rank. Each of them carried two bags, each bag ten thousand dirhams, except one of them who carried three bags, two under his armpits and another on his head. When the Sultan saw them he laughed in amazement at the greed of the one who carried three, and asked about the rest of the group who had not entered, like me. He was told that these were of lower rank than those, for those were professors and these were tutors (muʿīds). So he ordered ten thousand dirhams for each of us, and it was distributed among us.