Al-Makrizi as an Eyewitness within the Era of the Big Criminals during the Plague of 833 A.H. – 3
Published in April 18, 2020
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Continuing from the previous article: Sixthly: the month of Jamady Akhar, 833 A.H.:
8- (...On the 15th day of this month, upon the decree of the sultan Barsbay, his secretary Shehab-Eddine Ibn Adnan gathered 40 honorable men, descendants of Fatima and Ali (i.e., the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and her husband, respectively), whose first name is "Mohamed" and distributed among them the total sum of 5 thousand dirhams from the sultan's money to place these 40 men inside Al-Azhar Mosque to read, in unison, certain Quranic Chapters after the Friday noon congregational prayers; and then, they and all the congregation stood and implored and supplicated to the Lord God and to the Holy Prophet Muhammad to remove the plague from Egypt by His Grace and Mercy; the supplications continued until the afternoon prayers and the 40 men pronounced the Azan (i.e., call to prayers) also in unison, from the minaret, and they descended to perform the afternoon prayers with the congregation and then the left the Al-Azhar Mosque along with everyone else. This was done upon receiving the advice of some merchants who came from the East; they informed the sultan that their nations supplicated to God in unison along with some honorable men until the plague decreased each day until it disappeared; indeed, the plague decreased in Greater Cairo gradually after that Friday...).
8/1: The above passage contains a nonsensical practice which pertains to Sufi-Sunnite balderdash: to gather forty 'honorable' men and each of them had the first name 'Mohamed' and to pay them from the ill-gotten money collected by the greedy, stingy sultan Barsbay to play an act before the residents of Greater Cairo! They were polytheists who invoked, besides Allah, their imaginary immortal deity whom they named as 'Muhammad'! Would Muhammad, after his death, remove the plague?! How come?! By the way, the secretary of Barsbay, Ibn Adnan, would never have found any difficulty at all to collect four hundred or even four thousand men, whose first name is 'Mohamed', among the so-called 'honorable' descent! This myth of a 'holy' descent or lineage of Muhammad's household is refuted by our person in an article, in English, found on this link: (http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16080). Many Muhammadans in several eras, when Sufism dominated, feigned being among the descendants of Fatima and Ali; this false claim made them gain stature/respect, jobs, and money as members of a special rank: the so-called 'honorable' ones. They were revered by Sufis, Sunnites, and Shiites since all Muhammadans, in all eras, deify Muhammad as a god besides Allah! Consequently, such 'honorable' men belonged to the big criminals among clergymen/sheikhs; some of them established Sufi orders to gain immense wealth; few of them claimed being the so-called awaited imam Al-Mehdi (or even a precursor or a father of Al-Mehdi) to reach power and get enthroned somewhere in the planet of the Muhammadans in order to become among the big criminals who were enthroned tyrants/kings at the time.
8/2: It is a silly practice which is repeated in later eras of the plague; by mere coincidence, the plague deceased after reaching its climax in Greater Cairo.
8/3: Within the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, Shiite, Sufi, and Sunnite sheikhs of today spread their own nonsense and quasi-religious balderdash about their finding a 'cure' or a 'panacea' to keep the pandemic off or to heal victims! Their myths in this respect are nauseating and assert the fact that such misguided, errant animals are, by far, worse than the pandemic itself.
9- (...The plague increased in Upper Egyptian cities and villages and in the deserts between Egypt and the Levant, among Bedouins, and also in the Levantine cities of Hama and Homs...). The plague decreased gradually in Greater Cairo but it increased in the Levant and in Upper Egypt; Al-Makrizi had no statistics about the number of victims there.
10- (...In some orchards in Greater Cairo, seven wolves were found dead; they died of the plague...). (...A man said that his chickens died of the plague, and each chicken had a swollen tumor in its body...). (...A man said his female chimpanzee died of the plague after three days of resisting it; she never ate food he offered her within the three days; she only drank water; yet, eventually, she died with a swollen head; no doubt, she died of the plague...). In Greater Cairo, some animals died of the plague.
Seventhly: the month of Rajab, 833 A.H.:
1- (...The plague considerably decreased in Greater Cairo when Rajab came; in the previous month, when the spring season came, death of the plague slowly took the souls of some rich people and old people, who remained ill for several days, after it took its toll previously among children and foreign male and female slaves/servants who died swiftly. The prices of possible cures soared; the victims of the plague no longer died suddenly; it took them several days to perish; in the previous month, there was hardly a house in Greater Cairo that did not include a bedridden ill person who contracted the plague or a person who died of it...Within this plague, something that rarely occurred took place: many mansions and houses were empty of its inhabitants as all of them died of the plague; some people undeservedly confiscated such houses and mansions with the money stored in them...). Within the second wave of the plague, old and rich people died slowly of it within days of pain and suffering since they had better immunity systems; in the previous wave of the plague, children and foreign servants/slaves died swiftly within hours of contracting he plague since they had weak immunity system. The several days of the victims before their death made their families hope they would be cured; thus, the prices of 'healings' and 'cures' soared though they were of no use at all. Some mansions/houses were empty as all its residents died of the plague; other people took such mansions/houses to themselves along with the money inside them.
2- (...Greater numbers among the Mameluke soldiers and guards inside the towers near the palace of the sultan died of the plague and the same happened to many Mameluke servants inside the palace; Ibn Adnan the secretary of the sultan told us that no one among them survived to serve the sultan, to the extent that when a letter came from the governor of Tripoli, in the Levantine region, the secretary never found anyone to receive it and read to the sultan but himself; Ibn Adnan assumed his post after his brother, the previous secretary, died of the plague – may God have mercy upon his soul – and Ibn Adnan had to open the letter and read it aloud to eh sultan himself...).
2/1: Al-Makrizi was a close friend of Ibn Adnan the secretary of Barsbay at the time; he told him that most Mamelukes who served Barsbay as soldiers, guards, and servants died of the plague; no one was there to receive and read a letter that came to Barsbay except Ibn Adnan himself. We assert here that it is a very good thing that the plague made the Egyptians at the time get rid of such evil Mamelukes who were criminals bought and brought by Barsbay as Jilban; he had to buy and bring some others who also died of the plague in 841 A.H.
2/2: We implore the Lord God to make the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic cause the death of all our modern era's big criminals (tyrannical rulers + clergymen of Satan) to purify the Planet Earth from them!
3- The plague never hindered Barsbay from gaining more ill-gotten money by dismissing and appointing and re-appointing men in high-rank posts by receiving bribes from them; those big thieves who were (re)appointed imposed more bribes on the weak, ordinary people to make up for the sums they paid to the sultan Barsbay and to hoard more wealth as well.
3/1: (...On the 9th day of this month, the eunuch Mameluke prince Zayn-Eddine Khushqadam was allowed to continue in his post as a military leader of a large group of Mameluke soldiers; he assumed this post after the death of the previous Mameluke prince who occupied it Fakhr-Eddine Yacout...Khushqadam is of byzantine descent and he was bought, brought, trained, and then freed by the late Mameluke prince Yashbak, but he soon grew in fame; the sultan Barsbay favored him a lot...).
3/2: (...On the 16th day of this month, the Mameluke prince Taghribirdi was released from his prison, in Damietta, and it was decreed by the sultan Barsbay that he must leave Greater Cairo to reach Damascus to assume the post of the general military leader there, while serving the governor of Damascus...).
3/3: (...On the 23rd day of this month, the head-sheikh Badr-Eddine Hassan was appointed in the Al-Shaykhuniyya Sufi madrasa and mosque after the death of its former head-sheikh Sadr-Eddine Ibn Al-Ajamy...).
4- (...In this month, prices of crops and grains plummeted; a large sack of malt and of wheat was sold for 90 dirhams or less...).
5- (...Rumors spread about a military campaign led by the king of the east, Shah Rakh Ibn Taymour, to conquer some cities in Iraq near the borders with the Mameluke sultanate; therefore, the sultan Barsbay prepared his own military campaign which he will send to defend the borders within Iraq and Asia Minor...).
Eighthly: the month of Shabaan, 833 A.H.:
1- (...On the 3rd day of this month, most of the judges under the four supreme judges were dismissed from their posts; the sultan Barsbay issued a decree to appoint only four judges under the Al-Shafei supreme judge and three judges under the Al-Hanafy supreme judge, and only two judges under each of the Malik-doctrine supreme judge and the Hanbali supreme judge; we hope this improvement would last if it ever takes place...).
1/1: We see here a brief commentary on the corruption of the judicial authority during the Mameluke Era; the fact that, according to the above passage, the corrupt Mameluke authority tried in vain to reform the judicial system means that it was so corrupt; justice was missing and injustice reigned. This means that the big criminals who were clergymen/judges were more corrupt than Barsbay; they imposed bribes paid by people before they issued any court rulings, for the sake of any men or against them, so that they amass wealth and make up for the large bribes they paid to the sultan to assume their posts; of course, the Al-Shafei-doctrine supreme judge at the time was Ibn Hajar whose titles included (Sheikh Al-Eslam) and (prince of hadiths). when the sultan Barsbay knew that judges stole large sums of money from people which exceeded the sum of the bribe they paid to him to get their positions, he tried, in vain and when it was too late, to introduce reform by lessening the number of judges, distributed among regions of Egypt, serving the four supreme judges.
1/2: The words of Al-Makrizi (we hope this improvement would last if it ever takes place) show that his despair; he knew this reform would not take place at all; Barsbay would never stop taking bribes by appointing many men in many positions; this means that the source of corruption is the head of the State, the Mameluke sultan, and also in his big criminals: clergymen/judges and the Mameluke soldiers/leaders/princes.
2- (...On the 8th day of this month, the pilgrimage and Kiswah caravan moved from Greater Cairo; this occasion usually takes place in Rajab and not in Shabaan; yet, this delay was caused by the death of so many Mameluke soldiers who were trained to play with spears with one another while celebrating the caravan heading for Mecca; other surviving Mameluke soldiers had to be trained to play with spears so as not to make the subjects miss this show, and this took time; this is why the delay occurred and the caravan moved from Cairo in Shabaan and not in Rajab...). This show with spears with very important at the time to celebrate the pilgrimage caravan heading for Mecca; this asserted the Mameluke quasi-religious authority; the celebration and the caravan had to be postponed for nearly a month; most Mameluke soldiers died of the plague and some other Mameluke soldiers had to be trained to play with spears on that important occasion.
3- We repeat: the plague never hindered Barsbay from gaining more ill-gotten money by dismissing and appointing and re-appointing men in high-rank posts by receiving bribes from them; those big thieves who were (re)appointed imposed more bribes on the weak, ordinary people to make up for the sums they paid to the sultan Barsbay and to hoard more wealth as well.
3/1: (...On the 23rd day of this month, the sheikh Ibn Al-Mojeer was appointed as the head-sheikh of the Sufi madrassa/Khanqah Saeed Al-Suadaa built earlier by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin...).
3/2: (...The judge Badr-Eddine Ibn Abdel-Aziz assumed the post of a teacher of Al-Shafei doctrine in Al-Shaykhuniyya madrassa/school instead of the former judge/sheikh who was made to move to Damascus to be appointed as a judge there...).
3/3: (...The judge/sheikh Amin-Eddine Yahya was appointed as a teacher of Al-Hanafy doctrine in the new Al-Ashrafiyya madrassa/school and mosque, built by the sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay, after the former teacher, Kamal-Eddine Ibn Hammam, resigned due to his old age and his desire to spend the rest of his life within asceticism and works of charity...).
4- (...Many preparations were made for the sultan Barsbay who will lead the military campaign heading to the borders of the Mameluke sultanate in Iraq and Asia Minor...).
Ninthly: the month of Ramadan, 833 A.H.:
1- (...On the 9th day of this month, regarding the Al-Ashrafiyya madrassa and mosque in Greater Cairo built by the sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay, the sultan issued a decree to appoint in it three teachers/sheikhs of Al-Shafei, Malik, and Hanbali doctrines and each one had twenty disciples/students; this is apart from two teachers to teach Moslem and Al-Bokhary books of hadiths...).
1/1: Of course, at the time, some Mameluke sultans and princes protected their ill-gotten wealth against confiscation (during their lifetimes or after their death so that they provide for their offspring) by making such wealth (assets, orchards,...etc.) the source of Waqfs (i.e. religious endowments) which spent on madrassas/mosques; teachers/sheikhs had to be appointed there to teach the theology of the terrestrial Sunnite-Sufi religion of Satan; of course, as little money as possible was spent on such schools/mosques and the rest of the wealth were spent on maintaining the luxurious lifestyle of the big criminals among such Mameluke princes/sultans who also hoarded money for their offspring. Of course, as per the dominant Sufi religion of Satan, such activities would supposedly ensure Paradise for the Mamelukes after death! Of course, at the time, there was no smuggling ill-gotten wealth outside Egypt in foreign banks; there were no banks. The big criminals had to invest their ill-gotten wealth inside Egypt and to appoint their allies, the big criminals who were clergymen/judges, in such schools/mosques and other religious institutions.
1/2: Most of the Mameluke monuments, grand mosques, religious institutions, palaces,...etc. remain in both Egypt and the Levant; all of such edifices were erected using ill-gotten money, of course.
2- (...On the 18th day of this month, the secretary in Aleppo Shehab-Eddine Ibn Saleh was summoned to be re-appointed as the secretary in Greater Cairo; the new secretary who succeeded him in Aleppo was his own son Zayn-Eddine Omar; his father paid ten thousand dinars to the sultan Barsbay; this was done after the death of the secretary Ibn Adnan who also assumed the post after the death of his brother who was the secretary as well...). Al-Makrizi who wrote spontaneously says here that Barsbay, instead of letting the post lure other competitors to offer higher bribes for it as usual, summoned someone to appoint him as the secretary of the sultan in Egypt and to appoint his son in his place in Aleppo in return for a large bribe; out of fear, this man never dared to oppose the decree of the sultan or to question the sum of the bribe; besides, the new secretary would be in a high-rank position near the sultan, with more authority and protection, to steal more money in Greater Cairo, and we mean more money than the sums he stole in Aleppo.
3- (...On the 23rd day of this month, an honorable man named Hashem came as the messenger of the king Shah Rakh Ibn Taymour along with a precious gift for the sultan Barsbay: some rare large rubies; yet, the letter which accompanied the gift contained addressing the sultan as the 'prince' Barsbay! The messenger read the letter aloud to the sultan; it began with the Quranic Chapter 105 on top of it instead of the typical Quranic phrase "In the Name of Allah, the Dominant, the Compassionate"...). So, even the messenger who came from the king of the east Shah Rakh Ibn Taymour was supposedly from the so-called 'honorable' men who descended from the lineage of Fatima and Ali! Of course, the relation between Shah Rakh Ibn Taymour and Barsbay was very bad.
Tenthly: the month of Shawwal, 833 A.H.:
1- (...Prices of all grains, crops, fruits, and meat plummeted; all goods in all marketplaces were cheap and affordable...).
2- (...Another caravan of pilgrims left Greater Cairo, heading to Mecca, on the 23rd day of this month...).
3- (...On the 22nd day of this month, the River Nile water level increased noticeably; the increase was measured to be nearly nine arms...).
4- (...On the 24th day of this month, the military campaign sent by the sultan Barsbay, who never joined it, reached to the Levantine city of Antioch on its way back from the borders of the Mameluke sultanate in Iraq and Asia Minor; the sultan Barsbay issued a decree to appoint and promote Mameluke military leaders within several posts...).
Eleventh: the month of Zu Al-Qaeda, 833 A.H.:
1- (...On the 3rd day of this month, the vizier Kareem-Eddine Ibn Al-Kateb was appointed, besides his being a vizier, as the private treasurer of the sultan Barsbay instead of the Mameluke prince Alaa-Eddine Al-Jamaly...). (...The Mameluke prince Alaa-Eddine Al-Jamaly received another post in the Mameluke military ranks on the 24th day of this month...The sultan Barsbay was advised by his courtiers to check and maintain the bridges and archeson the River Nile...). (...On the 26th day of this month, the River Nile water level increased; the increase was measured to be nearly three more arms; the total increase was 17 arms...). (...The River Nile water level increased; the increase was measured to be two more arms; the total increase was 19 arms...As a result, the dilapidated, old bridges and archescollapsed as they received no maintenance for years...). Barsbay never maintained or repaired the bridges and arches of the River Nile which controlled the flood; famines occurred when the flood was too much or the water levels were so low; famines were typically followed by waves of the plague since corpses of those who died of hunger were left for days to decay in the streets!
2- (...On the 15th of this month, the pilgrims inside the ship heading for Jeddah saw a comet of fire in the sky with sparks flying from it; on the very next morning, the heat in the air was unbearable for them...When the caravan of the pilgrims left Jeddah to head toward Mecca, many pilgrims died of heat and thirst and so were many of camels, mules, and cattle before even they reached Yanba'...).
Twelfth: the month of Zu Al-Hijja, 833 A.H.:
1- (...On the 10th day of this month, the overseer of the Mameluke military troops and treasurer of the sultanate, judge Zayn-Eddine Abdel-Basset headed a delegation to visit Jerusalem...). The annals of Al-Makrizi and other historians at the time never mention the name: Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
2- (...On the 27th day of this month, the heralds of the caravan of pilgrims returned to Greater Cairo to inform the sultan and the people of those who died of heat and thirst among the Egyptian pilgrims...).
3- (...On the 29th day of this month, judge Zayn-Eddine Abdel-Basset and his delegation returned from Jerusalem...).
4- (...In this month, the troops Mameluke prince/governor of Aleppo were joined by military troops as reinforcements sent from Greater Cairo by the sultan Barsbay as they marched to fight Qirqmas Ibn Hussein the ruler of a neighboring emirate at the borders; yet, upon reaching Galilee, he Mameluke military troops began to raid houses to loot and rob; the local residents fought them back and killed many of the Mameluke soldiers and also killed the Mameluke governor of Aleppo; the defeated remainder of the troops returned to Aleppo in the worst condition...).
5- Al-Makrizi, as a witness, summarizes the main events of 833 A.H. as follows: (...This awful year had many inflictions and calamities that made people suffer for a long time; several severe waves of the plagues, plus wars and corruption which spread on the earth; in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt and also in Greater Cairo, at least 100 thousand persons died of the plague this year; a ship sank in the Red Sea while it carried 800 Egyptian pilgrims and merchants heading towards Arabia; only three men survived and the rest drowned; at least 5000 persons (pilgrims, merchants, and guards) died of heat and thirst neat Yanba' on their way from Jeddah to Mecca in Arabia...At least twelve boats sank in the River Nile and many goods and crops in them were lost, making merchants lose a huge fortune...So many people died of the plague in the Levantine cities of Gaza, Al-Ramla, Jerusalem, Safad, Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and the villages and estates near such cities; the number of those who died there is known only to the Omniscient Lord God...).
6- The Lord God says the following about the Yathreb hypocrites during the lifetime of Muhammad: "Do they not see that they are tested once or twice every year? Yet they do not repent, and they do not remember." (9:126). We assert here the fact that the big criminals who are the sinful sultans and caliphs are more disbelieving and polytheistic than the Yathreb hypocrites in the seventh-century Arabia!