[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Foreign](https://indike.org/pramana/inf) › [Islamic world](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl) › [Arabic](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar) › [Travel and sea narratives](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla) › [تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt) › 13.106.1 # تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.106.1 English (machine translation) 13.106.1 - **Language:** English ### [13.106.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.13.106.1) Bordering on his lands there was an infidel sultan called Balāl Dīw (with a over the one-dotted b, l, alif, a second l, an undotted d with i, the last letter y with a, and w without a vowel). He was one of the great sultans of the infidels; his army exceeded a hundred thousand, and with him were about twenty thousand Muslims, men of villainy, criminals and runaway slaves. He coveted the conquest of the land of Maʿbar. The Muslim army there numbered six thousand, half of them good troops and the other half worthless and of no use. They met him outside the city of Kubbān, and he routed them, and they fell back to the capital Mutra. The infidel encamped against Kubbān, one of their largest and best-fortified cities, and besieged it for ten months, until they had only fourteen days' provisions left. The infidel sent to them to come out under safe-conduct and leave the town to him. They said to him, "We must inform our sultan of this," and he gave them until the end of fourteen days. They wrote to Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn about their situation, and he read their letter to the people on Friday, and they wept and said, "We sell our lives to God, for if the infidel takes that city he will move on to besiege us, so death under the swords is better for us!" So they pledged themselves to death and went out the next day. They took the turbans from their heads and put them on the horses' necks, which is the sign of one who seeks death. They put the valiant and the heroes among them in the vanguard, three hundred of them; over the right wing they set Sayf al-Dīn Bahādur, who was a pious and brave jurist, and over the left wing al-Malik Muḥammad al-Silaḥdār. The sultan rode in the centre with three thousand, and he made the remaining three thousand a rearguard, under Asad al-Dīn Kaykhusraw al-Fārisī. They made for the infidel's camp at the time of the midday rest, when its people were off guard and their horses were at pasture, and they attacked it. The infidels thought they were raiders and came out against them in disorder and fought them; then Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn arrived, and the infidels were utterly routed. Their sultan tried to mount, being eighty years old, and Nāṣir al-Dīn, the sultan's nephew, who ruled after him, caught up with him and was about to kill him, not knowing who he was, when one of his slaves said to him, "He is the sultan." So he took him captive and brought him to his uncle, who outwardly treated him with honour until he had extracted from him wealth, elephants and horses, and kept promising him release. When he had stripped him of all he had, he slaughtered him and flayed him, and his skin was stuffed with straw and hung on the wall of Mutra, and I saw it hanging there! But let us return to our account. I left the camp and reached the city of Fattan (with a over the f, a doubled t with two dots, and n), a large, fine city on the coast. Its harbour is remarkable: a large wooden dome has been built in it, standing on massive timbers, reached by a covered wooden walkway. When - [Previous: 13.105.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.13.105.2) - [Next: 13.106.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.13.106.2) - [Up: 13.106](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.13.106) ## Linked texts (1) - [تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta.13.106.1) — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.13.106.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.isl.ar.rihla.ibn-battuta~en-mt.13.106.1) · Pramāṇa