The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 3 by Ibn al-Athir

Author:Ibn al-Athir [al-Athir, Ibn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2020-04-22T07:00:00+00:00

[308] Account of the death of the caliph’s son

On 20 Dhū’l-Qa‘da [11 March 1216] the caliph’s son died, his youngest. He was entitled al-Mu‘aẓẓam and his name was Abū’l-Ḥasan ‘Alī. He was the caliph’s best beloved son and he had nominated him as his heir-apparent, having removed his eldest son from that position and put him aside for the sake of this son.

He was (God have mercy on him) generous, active in almsgiving and good works, and of excellent conduct, beloved by the elite and commons alike. His death was caused by a bout of dysentery. At his death the caliph was afflicted with a grief, the like of which had never been heard of. He even sent to the rulers of provinces forbidding them to send him any message of condolence for his son. He neither read any letter nor heard any missive. He withdrew from public view and was alone with his cares and his sorrows. Unheard-of sadness and grief were evident on his person.

When he died, his body was carried out during the daytime and all the men of note walked before his bier to his grandmother’s mausoleum near the tomb of Ma‘rūf al-Karkhī, where he was laid to rest. After the bier was taken in, the doors were closed and a terrible crying could be heard from within the mausoleum. It was said to be the voice of the caliph.

The common people of Baghdad also grieved for him greatly and the mourning continued throughout the quarters of Baghdad night and day. There was not one district of Baghdad that did not have its hired mourners and no woman who did not proclaim her grief.2 Neither in former nor recent days had anything like this been heard of in Baghdad.

His death occurred at the time when Manklī’s head arrived at Baghdad. The procession had been ordered to go out to meet the head. Everyone had left and when they came back with the head to the top of Habīb Street, [309] the cry went up that the caliph’s son had died. The head was then returned. This is the way of the world. Its joy is never free from grief, although its misfortunes are often free of the admixture of joy.3

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