Bensalem Himmich - The Polymath

“O God, strengthen his steps and grant him victory over the Mamluks and all other rebels! Amen! Praise be to God, the Lord of humanity!”

The judges all shifted in their places and took a deep breath. They felt as though they had just emerged from a trying examination, one in which they were supposed to don the armor of partiality and dissimulation, lift their hands in supplication, and go along with the prayers of the translator jurist, Ibn al-Nu‘man, wherever they happened to lead. Burhan al-Din leaned over and spoke to ‘Abd al-Rahman. “I notice,” he said, “that, like me, you are eager to challenge certain details of what was just said. Maybe you noticed, as I did, that the translator added certain ideas of his own to the original. But in the present situation it’s much too risky to say anything. So just pray to God that the tyrant’s path will be removed from us.”

By now the Mongols’ shouting outside the tent had reached some sort of climax. Timur looked as though he were riding in a boat on top of it all, almost drunk from an excess of pride and delight. Then all of a sudden, with a single gesture of his hand, an abrupt and scary silence fell over everyone. After another gesture, he was put on a sedan-chair and carried away to his harem quarters. His official, Shah Malik, asked the judges to go back to Bab al-Jabiya ahead of the Great Khan and await his arrival there in the evening.

It was noon. Heat, indigestion, the mob of uncouth soldiery in the Mongol camp, Timur’s explicit refusal to confirm his safe-conduct document, all these things served to make the judges feel almost giddy. They certainly did not feel like talking. As a result, each of them rushed back to his own house, hoping to get some rest before the appointed rendezvous with Timur on this nineteenth day in Jumada al-Akhira in 903.

Next to Manjak’s tomb, close by Bab al-Jabiya, the air over Damascus began to reverberate to the beating of drums and the clarion calls of horns and bugles. The people in the city were thus notified of Timur’s arrival at the city gates and his army’s imminent entry into the city itself. The overwhelming atmosphere was one of fear and trepidation, something that was in no way mitigated either by the soothing sentiments of speeches and sermons or by talk of Timur’s safe-conduct agreement. Most people were instinctively aware that the Mongols could not simply abandon their normally aggressive behavior at the threshold of Damascus and spare the surrendering city from their normal ravage and rapine. On the other hand, they also realized that any resistance coming from the Citadel was both an expression of ultimate despair and a gesture with death as a certain consequence. All people could do was to recite the prayer for mercy and then pray that the Mongol hurricane would not totally destroy the city along with all its people and produce.

Spurred by curiosity and a desire to witness the event for themselves, the people of Damascus gathered in the spot where Timur and his retinue were supposed to appear. At their head were the city’s judges and dignitaries, decked in all the garb of pomp and respect. They felt bolstered by Burhan al-Din’s slogan: “We are handing over the keys to the city, but not to our souls.” The strident music still managed to scare people. All the while Timur sat in his pavilion, accepting greetings from those coming to see him and gesturing to them to take a seat. Once the gathering was assembled, a sudden silence fell over the proceedings. Shah Malik then demanded that the chief judge, the Hanafi Mahmud Ibn al-’Izz, appear before Timur. He then showed the judge a huge box filled with keys and conveyed to him the command that the symbols of the surrender of Damascus be placed inside the Mongol invader’s box. At this crucial point in the ceremony, Burhan al-Din ibn Muflih stepped forward and bowed to Timur. Out of his sleeve he took a piece of paper and proceeded to read out loud so that everyone in the pavilion could hear. “Those pages also contain our keys,” he said, “keys symbolizing our demand for a guarantee of safety. They contain the guarantee signed by the Great Khan, shepherd of Muslim souls, guardian of their womenfolk and possessions, Timur ibn Chagatai, the righteous, the upright.” Judge Ibn Muflih then repeated his statement in Turkish (close to the Mongol’s own tongue). Timur had not been expecting any of the judges to be so bold as to make such an impromptu statement in public, but even so he managed to keep his anger under control. He glowered at Burhan al-Din, then guffawed as he looked toward the rest of assembled company before gesturing to the judges to depart. As they left, Ibn al-Nu‘man reminded them that from now on they would be obliged to deliver the sermon on Fridays and feast days in the name of the Great Khan, Timur the Magnificent. Ibn Khaldun was ordered to stay behind along with the notables of Damascus society so that they could discuss cutting off the water supply to the Citadel as a means of bringing about its surrender. Argument on the topic was long and inconclusive since there were various opinions on the subject of cutting off the water. Eventually Timur accepted a proposal from the translator that within two days the notables prepare a plan they could all accept and submit it to him. With that he allowed everyone to leave.

Once ‘Abd al-Rahman had returned to his abode, he started worrying again because he had had no news of his family. He longed to return to his home in Egypt, but in the meantime he decided to be patient and prayed to God a great deal. He realized full well that the best way to rid himself of Timur was to respond to the latter’s request for a description of the Maghrib. He therefore spent several days writing such an account, focusing on the ruggedness of the terrain and the steadfast qualities of its inhabitants. That way, he hoped he would be able to remove from Timur’s mind any thought of launching a campaign against the Maghrib and adding its territories to the Mongol dominions further to the east. While he was busy writing this document, news reached him of the fall of the Damascus citadel after the Mongols had threatened to attack it with catapults, ballistas, flame-throwers, and other instruments of destruction, including — it was rumored — cannons. Certain judges also reported that the citadel commander had managed to escape and that Burhan al-Din had been arrested by the Mongols for confronting Timur over his demand for a share of tax revenues and because the people in the Citadel who had surrendered had been subjected to looting and murder. Barely two days passed before the judges brought even worse news: Mongol soldiers were mistreating the citizens of Damascus itself and confiscating money and property. The fires deliberately set by soldiers in people’s homes and markets had reached the walls and roof of the Great Umawi Mosque and completely destroyed the eastern minaret.

“So Timur has broken his promise — may God rebuke him!” said Shaykh Mahmud ibn al-’Izz and those with him. “We must go to see him at once and complain angrily. ‘Abd al-Rahman could only agree with them, especially since from the roof of the al-’Adiliya College he had been able to observe for himself some evidence of the destruction now being wrought on the city.

The delegation made its way swiftly to the al-Ablaq Palace where Timur had taken up residence. They asked his minister, Shah Malik, for a meeting with Timur, but without success They then went to the office of his translator, Judge Ibn al-Nu‘man, who welcomed them warmly, almost as though news of the atrocities in the city had yet to reach his ears. At this point the chief judge — in spite of his age and exhaustion — undertook to detail the outrages currently taking place in a tone full of anger and reproach. The Hanbali judge Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Nabulusi noticed that the translator seemed totally unconcerned and unaffected by the information, whereupon he yelled in his face, “Did we receive from your lord a document that guaranteed safety, or was it destruction? The Islamic religion is innocent of the Mongols and their deeds. Those who transgress the statutes of God, those are the wrongdoers —God who neither delays nor ignores has spoken truly.”