19. Syria 1: Chronicle of Ibn Al-Ṣiddīq (1768)
p. 283-287
Texte intégral
1The chronicle of Ibn al-Ṣiddīq (Ḥasan, al-šahīr bi-–), Ġarāyib al-badāyiʿ wa-ʿajāyib al-waqāyiʿ, covers the events between 1182/1768 and 1185/1771 and is a contemporary account. We have no information about the author. The manuscript (a unicum) is part of the Wetzstein Collection, in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (We II 417, Ahlwardt’s catalogue vol. 9 n° 9832). The edition by Yūsuf Nuʿaysa (1988) is very faulty, full of mistakes and inaccurate readings. Long passages are omitted or mixed up. The text below is taken from the manuscript (p. 70; Ms f° 80b–81a).
Transcription


Translation
2The people of Ḥarrān [= Ḥarrān al-ʿawāmīd, in the vicinity of Damascus] did what he had ordered them to do and they went and looted the cattle of Ḥusayn Rušayd and brought it to Damascus. Ibn Ḥibbī got aware of this before its arrival and he rushed inside the Palace to find the kaḫiya [intendant] and shouted and screamed at him and said: you, man of no faith! You traitor to your word! How is it that your Pasha gives me a written order (buyuruldī) granting me safe-conduct and quarter and that you send [people / messages] behind my back [to harm / discredit me], after I have brought it to you and after you have given your word. Moreover, you send [people] to Ḥarrān to loot his cattle and his goods and livelihoods and bring them to Damascus. By the life of the Sultan, I will not remove my foot from here until you write a new written order ordering that the cattle must go back. He compelled them to write [it] by force. He bestowed marks of honour upon Ibn Ḥusayn Rušayd by force. On the 8 Rajab, ʿUṯmān Bāšā behaved improperly in Damascus. All the people insulted him, saying: this man has turned crazy! He let Muḥammad ʾĀġā Ibn al-Rūmī come, dismissed him from the fortress of al-Muzayrīb and replaced him by a mentally ill young boy – because of his depravity with young boys. He entrusted the son of Ibn Ḥusayn ʾĀġā, who had been killed in the Sūq al-ʾArwām, with the leadership of the pilgrimage, and made him his representative [wakīl] for [the region of] the Druzes and Ḥawrān. All the people insulted and cursed him and the Damascenes said: should that man continue with his depraved mind, Damascus will go up in smoke. On the 9 Raǧab a jūqadār (čūḫadār) [here: a high rank messenger] sent by the mutasallim of Homs arrived bearing a letter to the Pasha saying: Sir (ʾAfandīnā) we are informing you that the people of Homs are about to move away, because of the news that spread out and reached us about what ʿUṯmān Bāšā did when he arrived to Hama: he required of us [that we supply] the provisions for eight days. When the people of Homs heard about that, they decided they would move and run away to the steppe and the desert. We have already sent you a message to inform you and we are waiting for your response. Right away, he sent his answer to the mutasallim of Homs [saying]: Grant ʿUṯmān whatever he might ask.
Commentary
31
. See text II.9, no. 4.
42
The usual plural of this (colloquial) word is ṭrūš; (ʾa) ṭrāš is probably a classicising form.
53
. See text II.9, no. 18.
64
, although attested in the Classical language, is most probably the colloquial form of this conjunction.
75
. Shift of s > ṣ; cf. sarāy (a).
86
qal-lo (< qāl l-o). Notice also the ʾalif wiqāya after the final - o/-u (a common feature of MA orthography); cf.
ṭarš-o,
žibt-o,
rizq-o,
ʿazal-o,
badal-o.
97
< *mā l-kum ‘not to you’ = ‘you don’t have’.
108
. Borrowings like bāšā often have a -t in the construct state (and are often written with a tāʾ, e.g.,
also in the absolute state).
119
. For the -ū form (and not -ūn) of the 2pl of the imperfect see text II.9, no. 7. The verb baʿaṯa/baʿat often functions as a factitive auxiliary (see Lentin 1997, §4.5.1, 633–36); the auxiliary verb can follow immediately or be preceded by the conjunction wa, as in the just following
‘you send [people] to Ḥarrān to loot his cattle’, which could very well be translated ‘you let loot his cattle in Ḥarrān’. Cf. also text II.14, no. 9.
1210
colloquial pron. (ʾintu). Notice also the ʾalif wiqāya after the final -u (cf. n. 6).
1311
The (colloquial) -ū form (and not -um) is used most of the time in MA for the 2mpl and 2fpl of the perfect.
1412
kamān, colloquial adverb.
1513
: b (a) qīm, i.e., b- + 1cs of qām, with i theme vowel (cf. Classical ʾaqāma) ‘to remove’. The b (i)- imperfect, significantly used here in the first person and in reported (direct) speech, indicates modality (here modal future in a strong assertion) as well as the commitment of the speaker.
1614
hawn/hōn, colloquial adverb.
1715
and
. The initial prosthetic ʾalif indicates (in this case) that the noun begins with CC-. Thus, we have to read something like Ḥsēn and Ršēd (Rašīd is never abbreviated as *Ršīd).
1816
*ʿUṯmān > ʿUsmān > ʿUṣmān.
1917
. See text II.9, no. 5.
2018
is one of the numerous ‘genitive particles’ used in MA texts (see Lentin 1997, §17.8.2, 745–47). Its particular (qualificative) value here is not frequent.
2119
ʾiža (/žā) ‘to come’ (Classical jāʾa) occurs regularly in MA texts.
2220
bidd-hā. Colloquial bidd- + pronominal suffix ‘to want, wish’ or ‘to be intending/going to’ is common in (the most colloquialising) MA texts.
2321
invariable
(see text II.9, no. 15). Also notice the construction Ø+ N + relative clause (= Classical
).
2422
colloquial ṯmǝn-t-iyyām.
2523
diryū. Morphologically colloquial (diri ‘to become aware, hear’).
2624
. This literary cliché is very common in ‘popular’ literature, especially in the sīras.
2725
nistanna (colloquial).
Auteur
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
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