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A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic

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Esther-Miriam Wagner

II. Reader

19. Syria 1: Chronicle of Ibn Al-Ṣiddīq (1768)

Jérôme Lentin

Full text

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

ṭrūš(ʾa) ṭrāš sarāy (a)qalloqāl loʾalif wiqāya- o/-uṭarš-ožibt-orizq-oʿazal-obadal-omā l-kumbāšāttāʾūūnbaʿaṯa/baʿatwaʾintuʾalif wiqāyauūumkamānb (a) qīmb-qāmiʾaqāmab (i)hawnhōnʾalifḤsēnRšēdRašīdRšīdʿUṯmānʿUsmānʿUṣmān ʾižažājāʾabidd-hābidd- ṯmǝn-t-iyyāmdiryūdirisīranistanna

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