تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.85.1

13.85.1

حدثني الثقات من أهلها كالفقيه عيسى اليمني، والفقيه المعلم على، والقاضي عبد الله وجماعة سواهم أن هذه الجزائر كانوا كفارا، وكان يظهر لهم في كل شهر عفريت من الجن يأتي من ناحية البحر كأنه مركب مملوء بالقناديل، وكانت عادتهم إذ رأوه أخذوا جارية بكرا فزينوها وأدخلوها إلى بدخانة ، وهي بيت الأصنام، وكان مبنيا على ضفة البحر، وله طاق ينظر إليه منها ويتركونها هنالك ليلة، ثم يأتون عند الصباح فيجدونها مفتضة ميتة! ولا يزالون في كل شهر يقترعون بينهم، فمن أصابته القرعة أعطى بنته! ثم إنه قدم عليهم مغربي يسمى بأبي البركات البربري وكان حافظا للقرآن العظيم فنزل بدار عجوز منهم بجزيرة المهل فدخل عليها يوما وقد جمعت أهلها وهن يبكين كأنهن في مأتم، فاستفهمهن عن شأنهن، فلم يفهمن فأتى ترجمان فأخبره أن العجوز كانت القرعة عليها، وليس لها إلا بنت واحدة يقتلها العفريت، فقال لها أبو البركات: أنا أتوجه عوضا من بنتك بالليل، وكان سناطا: لا لحية له، فأحتملوه تلك الليلة وأدخلوه إلى بدخانة وهو متوضئ وأقام يتلو القرآن ثم ظهر له العفريت من الطاق فداوم التلاوة فلما كان منه بحيث يسمع القراءة غاص في البحر، وأصبح المغربي وهو يتلو على حاله فجاءت العجوز وأهلها وأهل الجزيرة ليستخرجوا البنت على عادتهم فيحرقوها، فوجدوا المغربي يتلوا فمضوا به إلى ملكهم وكان يسمى شنورازة ، بفتح الشين المعجم وضم النون وواو وراء وألف وزاي وهاء، وأعلموه بخبره، فعجب منه وعرض المغربي عليه الإسلام ورغبه فيه، فقال له: أقم عندنا إلى الشهر الآخر، فإن فعلت كفعلك ونجوت من العفريت أسلمت! فأقام عندهم وشرح الله صدر الملك للاسلام فأسلم قبل تمام الشهر وأسلم أهله وأولاده وأهل دولته، ثم حمل المغربي لما دخل الشهر إلى بدخانة ولم يات العفريت فجعل يتلو حتى الصباح، وجاء السلطان والناس معه فوجدوه على حاله من التلاوة فكسروا الأصنام وهدموا بدخانة وأسلم أهل الجزيرة،

Trustworthy people among the inhabitants, such as the jurist ʿĪsā al-Yamanī, the jurist and teacher ʿAlī, the qāḍī ʿAbd Allāh and a number of others, told me that the people of these islands were infidels, and that every month there appeared to them an ʿifrīt of the jinn who came from the direction of the sea looking like a ship filled with lamps. Their custom, when they saw him, was to take a virgin girl, adorn her and bring her into the budkhāna, that is, the idol-house, which was built on the seashore and had a window through which he could be seen. They would leave her there for the night, then come in the morning and find her deflowered and dead! Every month they would cast lots among themselves, and whoever the lot fell upon gave up his daughter! Then there came to them a Maghribī named Abū al-Barakāt the Berber, who knew the mighty Qurʾān by heart. He lodged in the house of an old woman of theirs on the island of al-Mahal. One day he came in on her and found she had gathered her family, and the women were weeping as though at a funeral. He asked them what the matter was, but they did not understand him, so an interpreter came and told him that the lot had fallen on the old woman, and that she had only one daughter, whom the ʿifrīt would kill. Abū al-Barakāt said to her: 'I will go in place of your daughter tonight.' He was beardless, having no beard. So they carried him off that night and brought him into the budkhāna, having performed his ablutions, and he stayed there reciting the Qurʾān. Then the ʿifrīt appeared to him at the window, but he kept on reciting, and when [the ʿifrīt] came close enough to hear the recitation, he plunged into the sea. In the morning the Maghribī was still reciting as before. The old woman, her family and the people of the island came to take out the girl, as was their custom, and burn her, and they found the Maghribī reciting. So they took him to their king, who was called Shanūrāza — with a on the shīn with the dot, u on the nūn, then wāw, rāʾ, alif, zāy and hāʾ — and told him his story. The king marvelled at him, and the Maghribī offered him Islam and urged him to accept it. The king said to him: 'Stay with us until next month; if you do as you have done and escape the ʿifrīt, I will become a Muslim!' So he stayed with them, and God opened the king's heart to Islam, and he became a Muslim before the month was out, as did his family, his children and the people of his court. Then, when the month began, the Maghribī was carried to the budkhāna, and the ʿifrīt did not come; he went on reciting until morning. The sultan came with the people and found him still reciting, so they broke the idols and demolished the budkhāna, and the people of the island became Muslims,