تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.86
English (machine translation) 13.86
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13.86.1
Among their wonders is that their ruler is a woman, Khadīja, daughter of Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn ʿUmar, son of Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Ṣāliḥ al-Banjālī. The kingship belonged to her grandfather and then to her father. When her father died, her brother Shihāb al-Dīn became ruler while still young, and the vizier ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad al-Ḥaḍramī married his mother and dominated him. It was he who also married this sultana Khadīja after the death of her husband, the vizier Jamāl al-Dīn, as we shall relate. When Shihāb al-Dīn reached manhood, he expelled his stepfather the vizier ʿAbd Allāh and exiled him to the islands of al-Suwayd. He took sole control of the kingship and appointed as vizier one of his freedmen named ʿAlī Kalakī, then dismissed him after three years and exiled him to al-Suwayd. It was said of this Sultan Shihāb al-Dīn that he used to visit the wives of his officers of state and his intimates by night! So they deposed him for this and exiled him to the province of Haladutnī, and sent someone who killed him there. No one remained of the royal house except his sisters, Khadīja the eldest,
13.86.2
Maryam and Fāṭima. So they set up Khadīja as sultana. She was married to their preacher Jamāl al-Dīn, who became vizier and held sway over affairs, and he put forward his son Muḥammad as preacher in his place. But orders are issued only in the name of Khadīja. They write orders on palm leaves with a curved iron tool resembling a knife, and they write on paper only copies of the Qurʾān and books of learning. The preacher mentions her on Fridays and other occasions, saying:
13.86.3
'O God, help Your handmaid whom You have chosen, with knowledge, above all beings, and made a mercy for all the Muslims, namely Khadīja, daughter of Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn, son of Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn.'
13.86.4
It is their custom that when a foreigner comes to them and goes to the council hall, which they call the Dār, he must bring two lengths of cloth with him; he makes obeisance towards this sultana and throws down one of them, then makes obeisance to her vizier, who is her husband Jamāl al-Dīn, and throws down the second. Her army numbers about a thousand men, foreigners, though some of them are natives. They come every day to the Dār, make obeisance and withdraw. Their allowance is rice, given to them from the port every month; when the month is completed they come to the Dār, make obeisance and say to the vizier: "Convey our obeisance, and make it known that we have come to ask for our allowance," and then it is ordered for them. The qāḍī and the holders of offices, who are the viziers among them, also come to the Dār every day and make obeisance; the young attendants convey their obeisance and they withdraw.
Linked texts (1)
- تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic