تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.48
English (machine translation) 13.48
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13.48.1
The latter was one of the friends of God Most High, firmly established in the practice of detachment, wearing a tannūra, which is a garment covering from the navel downward. It is related that when he had prayed the last evening prayer, he would bring out all the food, condiments and water that remained in the hospice and distribute it among the poor, and throw away the wick of the lamp, and greet the morning with nothing in store.
13.48.2
His custom was to feed his companions bread and beans in the morning, and the bakers and bean-sellers would race each other to his hospice. He would take from them as much as would suffice the poor, and say to the one he had taken it from, "Sit down," until he received the first thing that God opened to him that day, whether little or much.
13.48.3
Among the stories told of him is that when Qāzān, king of the Tatars, reached Syria with his armies and took possession of Damascus, all but its citadel, al-Malik al-Nāṣir went out to repel him, and the encounter took place two days' journey from Damascus at a place
13.48.4
called Qashḥab. Al-Malik al-Nāṣir was at that time young in years and unacquainted with battles, and Shaykh al-ʿUryān was in his company. He dismounted, took a fetter and hobbled al-Malik al-Nāṣir's horse with it, so that it would not give way at the encounter because of his youth, which would have caused the defeat of the Muslims. Al-Malik al-Nāṣir stood firm and routed the Tatars in a shameful defeat in which many of them were killed and many drowned by the waters that were let loose upon them, and after that the Tatars never again set out against the lands of Islam. Shaykh Muḥammad al-ʿUryān, the aforementioned disciple of this shaykh, told me that he had been present at this battle when he was young.
13.48.5
We set out from Burj Būra and halted at the water known as Āb-i Siyāh, then travelled to the city of Qanauj — its name is pronounced with i after the q, a after the n, a quiescent w, and j — a large, well-built, strongly fortified city, with low prices and much sugar, which is carried from there to Dihlī. It has a great wall, and it has been mentioned before. Shaykh Muʿīn al-Dīn al-Bākharzī was there and entertained us as guests. Its amīr is Fīrūz al-Badakhshānī, a descendant of Bahrām Gūr, the companion of Kisrā. A group of pious and virtuous men, renowned for their noble character, live there; they are known as the Awlād Sharaf Jahān. Their grandfather was chief qāḍī at Dawlat Ābād; he was one of the beneficent givers of alms, and leadership in the land of Hind came to rest with him.
Linked texts (1)
- تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic