Tarikh (al-Tabari) 2927
Then the year 158 AH began
وَهَذِهِ تَرْجَمَةُ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ الْمَنْصُورِ هُوَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبَّاسِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْمُطَّلِبِ بْنِ هَاشِمٍ، أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْمَنْصُورُ. وَكَانَ أَكْبَرَ مِنْ أَخِيهِ أَبِي الْعَبَّاسِ السَّفَّاحِ، وَأُمُّهُ أُمُّ وَلَدٍ، اسْمُهَا سَلَّامَةُ. رَوَى عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ جَدِّهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ كَانَ يَتَخَتَّمُ فِي يَمِينِهِ. أَوْرَدَهُ الْحَافِظُ ابْنُ عَسَاكِرَ مِنْ طَرِيقِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ السُّلَمِيِّ عَنِ الْمَأْمُونِ، عَنِ الرَّشِيدِ، عَنِ الْمَهْدِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ الْمَنْصُورِ بِهِ. بُويِعَ لَهُ بِالْخِلَافَةِ بَعْدَ أَخِيهِ فِي ذِي الْحِجَّةِ، سَنَةَ سِتٍّ وَثَلَاثِينَ وَمِائَةٍ، وَعُمُرُهُ يَوْمَئِذٍ إِحْدَى وَأَرْبَعُونَ سَنَةً; لِأَنَّهُ وُلِدَ فِي سَنَةِ خَمْسٍ وَتِسْعِينَ عَلَى الْمَشْهُورِ فِي صَفَرٍ مِنْهَا بِالْحُمَيْمَةِ، وَكَانَتْ خِلَافَتُهُ ثِنْتَيْنِ وَعِشْرِينَ سَنَةً إِلَّا أَيَّامًا. وَكَانَ أَسْمَرَ اللَّوْنِ، مَوْفُورَ اللِّمَّةِ، خَفِيفَ اللِّحْيَةِ، رَحْبَ الْجَبْهَةِ، أَقْنَى الْأَنْفِ بَيِّنَ الْقَنَا، أَعْيَنَ كَأَنَّ عَيْنَيْهِ لِسَانَانِ نَاطِقَانِ، تُخَالِطُهُ أُبَّهَةُ الْمُلْكِ، وَتَقْبَلُهُ الْقُلُوبُ وَتَتْبَعُهُ الْعُيُونُ يُعْرَفُ الشَّرَفُ فِي تَوَاضُعِهِ، وَالْعِتْقُ فِي صُورَتِهِ، وَاللُّبُّ فِي مِشْيَتِهِ. هَكَذَا وَصَفَهُ بَعْضُ مَنْ رَآهُ. وَقَدْ صَحَّ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: مِنَّا السَّفَّاحُ وَالْمَنْصُورُ وَالْمَهْدِيُّ. وَفِي رِوَايَةٍ: حَتَّى يُسَلِّمَهَا إِلَى عِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ، عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ. وَقَدْ رُوِيَ مَرْفُوعًا، وَلَا يَصِحُّ رَفْعُهُ. وَذَكَرَ الْخَطِيبُ الْبَغْدَادِيُّ أَنَّ أُمَّهُ سَلَّامَةَ قَالَتْ: رَأَيْتُ حِينَ حَمَلْتُ بِهِ كَأَنَّهُ خَرَجَ مِنِّي أَسَدٌ، فَزَأَرَ وَأَقْعَى عَلَى يَدَيْهِ، فَمَا بَقِيَ أَسَدٌ حَتَّى جَاءَ فَسَجَدَ لَهُ. وَقَدْ رَأَى الْمَنْصُورُ فِي صِغَرِهِ مَنَامًا غَرِيبًا، فَكَانَ يَقُولُ: يَنْبَغِي أَنْ يُكْتَبَ فِي أَلْوَاحِ الذَّهَبِ، وَيُعَلَّقَ فِي أَعْنَاقِ الصِّبْيَانِ. قَالَ: رَأَيْتُ كَأَنِّي فِي الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ، وَإِذَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ فِي الْكَعْبَةِ، وَالنَّاسُ مُجْتَمِعُونَ حَوْلَهَا، فَخَرَجَ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ مُنَادٍ فَنَادَى: أَيْنَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ؟ فَقَامَ أَخِي السَّفَّاحُ يَتَخَطَّى الرِّجَالَ حَتَّى جَاءَ بَابَ الْكَعْبَةِ، فَأَخَذَ بِيَدِهِ، فَأَدْخَلَهُ إِيَّاهَا، فَمَا لَبِثَ أَنْ خَرَجَ وَمَعَهُ لِوَاءٌ أَسْوَدُ. ثُمَّ نُودِيَ: أَيْنَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ؟ فَقُمْتُ أَنَا وَعَمِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ نَسْتَبِقُ، فَسَبَقْتُهُ إِلَى بَابِ الْكَعْبَةِ، فَدَخَلْتُهَا، فَإِذَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ، وَأَبُو بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ وَبِلَالٌ، فَعَقَدَ لِي لِوَاءً، وَأَوْصَانِي بِأُمَّتِهِ، وَعَمَّمَنِي عِمَامَةً كَوَّرَهَا ثَلَاثَةً وَعِشْرِينَ كَوْرًا، وَقَالَ: خُذْهَا إِلَيْكَ أَبَا الْخُلَفَاءِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ. وَقَدِ اتَّفَقَ سِجْنُ الْمَنْصُورِ فِي أَيَّامِ بَنِي أُمَيَّةَ، فَاجْتَمَعَ بِهِ فِي السِّجْنِ نُوبَخْتُ الْمُنَجِّمُ، وَتَوَسَّمَ فِيهِ الرِّيَاسَةَ، فَقَالَ لَهُ: مِمَّنْ تَكُونُ؟ فَلَمَّا عَرَفَ نَسَبَهُ وَكُنْيَتَهُ قَالَ: أَنْتَ الْخَلِيفَةُ الَّذِي يَلِي الْأَرْضَ. فَقَالَ لَهُ: وَيْحَكَ! مَاذَا تَقُولُ؟ فَقَالَ: هُوَ مَا أَقُولُ لَكَ، فَضَعْ لِي خَطَّكَ فِي هَذِهِ الرُّقْعَةِ أَنْ تُعْطِيَنِي شَيْئًا إِذَا وَلِيتَ. فَكَتَبَ لَهُ، فَلَمَّا وَلِيَ أَكْرَمَهُ الْمَنْصُورُ، وَأَعْطَاهُ وَأَسْلَمَ نُوبَخْتُ عَلَى يَدَيْهِ، وَكَانَ قَبْلَ ذَلِكَ مَجُوسِيًّا، ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنْ أَخَصِّ أَصْحَابِ الْمَنْصُورِ عِنْدَهُ. وَقَدْ حَجَّ الْمَنْصُورُ بِالنَّاسِ سَنَةَ أَرْبَعِينَ وَمِائَةٍ، أَحْرَمَ مِنَ الْحِيرَةِ، وَفِي سَنَةِ أَرْبَعٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ، وَفِي سَنَةِ سَبْعٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ، وَفِي سَنَةِ ثِنْتَيْنِ وَخَمْسِينَ، ثُمَّ فِي هَذِهِ السَّنَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ فِيهَا وَفَاتُهُ. وَبَنَى مَدِينَةَ السَّلَامِ بَغْدَادَ، وَالرَّافِقَةَ، وَقَصْرَ الْخُلْدِ. قَالَ الرَّبِيعُ بْنُ يُونُسَ الْحَاجِبُ: سَمِعْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ يَقُولُ: الْخُلَفَاءُ أَرْبَعَةٌ; أَبُو بَكْرٍ، وَعُمَرُ، وَعُثْمَانُ، وَعَلِيٌّ، وَالْمُلُوكُ أَرْبَعَةٌ; مُعَاوِيَةُ، وَعَبْدُ الْمَلِكِ بْنُ مَرْوَانَ، وَهِشَامُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْمَلِكِ، وَأَنَا. وَقَالَ مَالِكٌ: قَالَ لِي الْمَنْصُورُ: مَنْ أَفْضَلُ النَّاسِ بَعْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ ؟ فَقُلْتُ: أَبُو بَكْرٍ، وَعُمَرُ. فَقَالَ: أَصَبْتَ، وَذَلِكَ رَأْيُ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. وَعَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْفِهْرِيِّ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ عَلَى مِنْبَرِ عَرَفَةَ يَوْمَ عَرَفَةَ يَقُولُ: أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، إِنَّمَا أَنَا سُلْطَانُ اللَّهِ فِي أَرْضِهِ، أَسُوسُكُمْ بِتَوْفِيقِهِ وَرُشْدِهِ، وَخَازِنُهُ عَلَى مَالِهِ، أُقَسِّمُهُ بِإِرَادَتِهِ، وَأُعْطِيهِ بِإِذْنِهِ، وَقَدْ جَعَلَنِي اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ قُفْلًا، إِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يَفْتَحَنِي لِإِعْطَائِكُمْ وَقَسْمِ أَرْزَاقِكُمْ فَتَحَنِي، وَإِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يُقْفِلَنِي عَلَيْهِ أَقْفَلَنِي، فَارْغُبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، وَسَلُوهُ - فِي هَذَا الْيَوْمِ الشَّرِيفِ الَّذِي وَهَبَ لَكُمْ فِيهِ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ مَا أَعْلَمَكُمْ بِهِ فِي كِتَابِهِ، إِذْ يَقُولُ: الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا [ الْمَائِدَةِ: 3 ]. أَنْ يُوَفِّقَنِي لِلصَّوَابِ، وَيُسَدِّدَنِي لِلرَّشَادِ، وَيُلْهِمَنِي الرَّأْفَةَ بِكُمْ، وَالْإِحْسَانَ إِلَيْكُمْ، وَيَفْتَحَنِي لِإِعْطَائِكُمْ، وَقَسْمِ أَرْزَاقِكُمْ بِالْعَدْلِ عَلَيْكُمْ، فَإِنَّهُ سَمِيعٌ مُجِيبٌ. وَقَدْ خَطَبَ يَوْمًا، فَاعْتَرَضَهُ رَجُلٌ وَهُوَ يُثْنِي عَلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، فَقَالَ: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، اذْكُرْ مَنْ أَنْتَ ذَاكِرُهُ، وَاتَّقِ اللَّهَ فِيمَا تَأْتِيهِ وَتَذَرُهُ. فَسَكَتَ الْمَنْصُورُ حَتَّى انْتَهَى كَلَامُ الرَّجُلِ، فَقَالَ: أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِمَّنْ قَالَ اللَّهُ، عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، فِيهِ: وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ أَخَذَتْهُ الْعِزَّةُ بِالْإِثْمِ [ الْبَقَرَةِ: 206 ]. أَوْ أَنْ أَكُونَ جَبَّارًا عَصِيًّا، أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، إِنَّ الْمَوْعِظَةَ عَلَيْنَا نَزَلَتْ، وَمِنْ عِنْدِنَا بُيِّنَتْ. ثُمَّ قَالَ لِلرَّجُلِ: مَا أَظُنُّكَ فِي مَقَالَتِكَ هَذِهِ تُرِيدُ وَجْهَ اللَّهِ، وَإِنَّمَا أَرَدْتَ أَنْ يُقَالَ: وَعَظَ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، لَا يَغُرَّنَّكُمْ هَذَا فَتَفْعَلُوا كَفِعْلِهِ. ثُمَّ أَمَرَ بِهِ فَاحْتُفِظَ بِهِ، وَعَادَ إِلَى خُطْبَتِهِ فَأَكْمَلَهَا، ثُمَّ قَالَ لِمَنْ هُوَ عِنْدَهُ: اعْرِضْ عَلَيْهِ الدُّنْيَا فَإِنْ قَبِلَهَا فَأَعْلِمْنِي، وَإِنْ رَدَّهَا فَأَعْلِمْنِي. فَمَا زَالَ بِهِ الرَّجُلُ الَّذِي هُوَ عِنْدَهُ حَتَّى أَخَذَ الْمَالَ وَالْجَوَارِيَ، وَوَلَّاهُ الْحِسْبَةَ وَالْمَظَالِمَ، وَأَدْخَلَهُ عَلَى الْخَلِيفَةِ فِي بِزَّةٍ حَسَنَةٍ، وَثِيَابٍ وَشَارَةٍ حَسَنَةٍ، فَقَالَ لَهُ الْخَلِيفَةُ: وَيْحَكَ! إِنَّكَ لَوْ كُنْتَ مُحِقًّا لَمَا قَبِلْتَ شَيْئًا مِمَّا أَرَى، وَلَكِنْ أَرَدْتَ أَنْ يُقَالَ عَنْكَ: إِنَّكَ وَعَظْتَ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، وَخَرَجْتَ عَلَيْهِ. ثُمَّ أَمَرَ بِهِ فَضُرِبَتْ عُنُقُهُ. وَقَدْ قَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ لِابْنِهِ الْمَهْدِيِّ: إِنَّ الْخَلِيفَةَ لَا يُصْلِحُهُ إِلَّا التَّقْوَى، وَالسُّلْطَانَ لَا يُصْلِحُهُ إِلَّا الطَّاعَةُ، وَالرَّعِيَّةَ لَا يُصْلِحُهَا إِلَّا الْعَدْلُ، وَأَوْلَى النَّاسِ بِالْعَفْوِ أَقْدَرُهُمْ عَلَى الْعُقُوبَةِ، وَأَنْقَصُ النَّاسِ عَقْلًا مَنْ ظَلَمَ مَنْ هُوَ دُونَهُ. وَقَالَ أَيْضًا: يَا بُنَيَّ، اسْتَدِمِ النِّعْمَةَ بِالشُّكْرِ، وَالْقُدْرَةَ بِالْعَفْوِ، وَالطَّاعَةَ بِالتَّأْلِيفِ، وَالنَّصْرَ بِالتَّوَاضُعِ وَالرَّحْمَةِ لِلنَّاسِ، وَلَا تَنْسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَنَصِيبَكَ مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ. وَحَضَرَ عِنْدَهُ مُبَارَكُ بْنُ فَضَالَةَ يَوْمًا، وَقَدْ أَمَرَ بِرَجُلٍ أَنْ تُضْرَبَ عُنُقُهُ، وَأَحْضَرَ النِّطْعَ وَالسَّيْفَ، فَقَالَ لَهُ مُبَارَكٌ: سَمِعْتُ الْحَسَنَ يَقُولُ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: إِذَا كَانَ يَوْمُ الْقِيَامَةِ نَادَى مُنَادٍ: لِيَقُمْ مَنْ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ. فَلَا يَقُومُ إِلَّا مَنْ عَفَا. فَأَمَرَ بِالْعَفْوِ عَنْ ذَلِكَ الرَّجُلِ. ثُمَّ أَخَذَ يُعَدِّدُ عَلَى جُلَسَائِهِ عَظِيمَ جَرَائِمِهِ وَمَا كَانَ صَنَعَهُ. وَقَالَ الْأَصْمَعِيُّ: أُتِيَ الْمَنْصُورُ بِرَجُلٍ لِيُعَاقِبَهُ فَقَالَ: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، الِانْتِقَامُ عَدْلٌ، وَالْعَفْوُ فَضْلٌ، وَنُعِيذُ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ يَرْضَى لِنَفْسِهِ بِأَوْكَسِ النَّصِيبَيْنِ، دُونَ أَنْ يَبْلُغَ أَرْفَعَ الدَّرَجَتَيْنِ. قَالَ: فَعَفَا عَنْهُ. قَالَ الْأَصْمَعِيُّ: قَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ لِرَجُلٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الشَّامِ: احْمَدِ اللَّهَ يَا أَعْرَابِيُّ الَّذِي رَفَعَ عَنْكُمُ الطَّاعُونَ بِوِلَايَتِنَا. فَقَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَجْمَعُ عَلَيْنَا حَشَفًا وَسُوءَ كَيْلٍ ; وِلَايَتَكُمْ وَالطَّاعُونَ. وَالْحِكَايَاتُ فِي ذِكْرِ حِلْمِهِ وَعَفْوِهِ كَثِيرَةٌ جِدًّا. وَدَخَلَ بَعْضُ الزُّهَّادِ عَلَى الْمَنْصُورِ، فَقَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعْطَاكَ الدُّنْيَا بِأَسْرِهَا، فَاشْتَرِ نَفْسَكَ بِبَعْضِهَا، وَاذْكُرْ لَيْلَةً تَبِيتُ فِي الْقَبْرِ لَمْ تَبِتْ قَبْلَهَا لَيْلَةً، وَاذْكُرْ لَيْلَةً تَمَخَّضُ عَنْ يَوْمٍ لَا لَيْلَةَ بَعْدَهُ. قَالَ: فَأَفْحَمَ الْمَنْصُورَ قَوْلُهُ، وَأَمَرَ لَهُ بِمَالٍ فَقَالَ: لَوِ احْتَجْتُ إِلَى مَالِكَ لَمَا وَعَظْتُكَ. وَقَدْ رُوِيَ عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ عُبَيْدٍ الْقَدَرِيِّ أَنَّهُ دَخَلَ عَلَى الْمَنْصُورِ، فَأَكْرَمَهُ وَعَظَّمَهُ وَأَدْنَاهُ، وَسَأَلَهُ عَنْ أَهْلِهِ وَعِيَالِهِ، ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ، عِظْنِي. فَقَرَأَ عَلَيْهِ أَوَّلَ سُورَةِ " الْفَجْرِ " إِلَى قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ [ الْفَجْرِ: 14 ]. قَالَ: فَبَكَى الْمَنْصُورُ بُكَاءً شَدِيدًا حَتَّى كَأَنَّهُ لَمْ يَسْمَعْ بِهَذِهِ الْآيَاتِ قَبْلَ تِلْكَ السَّاعَةِ ثُمَّ قَالَ: زِدْنِي. فَقَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَعْطَاكَ الدُّنْيَا بِأَسْرِهَا، فَاشْتَرِ نَفْسَكَ بِبَعْضِهَا، وَإِنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ كَانَ لِمَنْ قَبْلَكَ. ثُمَّ صَارَ إِلَيْكَ، ثُمَّ هُوَ صَائِرٌ لِمَنْ بَعْدَكَ، وَاذْكُرْ لَيْلَةً تُسْفِرُ عَنْ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ. فَبَكَى الْمَنْصُورُ أَشَدَّ مِنْ بُكَائِهِ الْأَوَّلِ حَتَّى اخْتَلَفَ جَفْنَاهُ. فَقَالَ لَهُ سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ مُجَالِدٍ: رِفْقًا بِأَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. فَقَالَ عَمْرٌو: وَمَاذَا عَلَى أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنْ يَبْكِيَ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. ثُمَّ أَمَرَ لَهُ الْمَنْصُورُ بِعَشَرَةِ آلَافِ دِرْهَمٍ، فَقَالَ: لَا حَاجَةَ لِي فِيهَا. فَقَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ: وَاللَّهِ لَتَأْخُذَنَّهَا. فَقَالَ: وَاللَّهِ لَا آخُذَنَّهَا. فَقَالَ لَهُ الْمَهْدِيُّ وَهُوَ جَالِسٌ فِي سَوَادِهِ وَسَيْفِهِ، إِلَى جَنْبِ أَبِيهِ: أَيَحْلِفُ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَتَحْلِفُ أَنْتَ؟! فَالْتَفَتَ إِلَى الْمَنْصُورِ، فَقَالَ: وَمَنْ هَذَا؟ فَقَالَ: هَذَا ابْنِي مُحَمَّدٌ الْمَهْدِيُّ وَلِيُّ الْعَهْدِ مِنْ بَعْدِي. فَقَالَ: أَسْمَيْتَهُ اسْمًا لَمْ يَسْتَحِقَّهُ بِعَمَلِهِ هَذَا، وَأَلْبَسْتَهُ لَبُوسًا مَا هُوَ لَبُوسُ الْأَبْرَارِ، وَلَقَدْ مَهَّدْتَ لَهُ أَمْرًا أَمْتَعَ مَا يَكُونُ بِهِ، أَشْغَلَ مَا تَكُونُ عَنْهُ. ثُمَّ الْتَفَتَ إِلَى الْمَهْدِيِّ فَقَالَ: يَابْنَ أَخِي، إِذَا حَلَفَ أَبُوكَ حَلَفَ عَمُّكَ; لِأَنَّ أَبَاكَ أَقْدَرُ عَلَى الْكَفَّارَةِ مِنْ عَمِّكَ. ثُمَّ قَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ: يَا أَبَا عُثْمَانَ، هَلْ مِنْ حَاجَةٍ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ. قَالَ: وَمَا هِيَ؟ قَالَ: لَا تَبْعَثْ إِلَيَّ حَتَّى آتِيَكَ. فَقَالَ: إِذًا وَاللَّهِ لَا نَلْتَقِي. فَقَالَ: عَنْ حَاجَتِي سَأَلْتَنِي. فَوَدَّعَهُ وَانْصَرَفَ، فَلَمَّا وَلَّى أَبَدَّهُ بَصَرَهُ وَهُوَ يَقُولُ: كُلُّكُمْ يَمْشِي رُوَيْدْ كُلُّكُمْ يَطْلُبُ صَيْدْ غَيْرَ عَمْرِو بْنِ عُبَيْدْ وَيُقَالُ: إِنَّ عَمْرَو بْنَ عُبَيْدٍ أَنْشَدَ الْمَنْصُورَ قَصِيدَةً فِي مَوْعِظَتِهِ إِيَّاهُ، وَهِيَ قَوْلُهُ: يَا أَيُّهَذَا الَّذِي قَدْ غَرَّهُ الْأَمَلُ وَدُونَ مَا يَأْمَلُ التَّنْغِيصُ وَالْأَجَلْ أَلَا تَرَى أَنَّمَا الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتُهَا كَمَنْزِلِ الرَّكْبِ حَلُّوا ثُمَّتَ ارْتَحَلُوا حُتُوفُهَا رَصَدٌ وَعَيْشُهَا نَكَدٌ وَصَفْوُهَا كَدَرٌ وَمُلْكُهَا دُوَلٌ تَظَلُّ تَقْرَعُ بِالرَّوْعَاتِ سَاكِنَهَا فَمَا يَسُوغُ لَهُ لِينٌ وَلَا جَدَلُ كَأَنَّهُ لِلْمَنَايَا وَالرَّدَى غَرَضٌ تَظَلُّ فِيهِ بَنَاتُ الدَّهْرِ تَنْتَضِلُ تُدِيرُهُ مَا أَدَارَتْهُ دَوَائِرُهَا مِنْهَا الْمُصِيبُ وَمِنْهَا الْمُخْطِئُ الزَّلِلُ وَالنَّفْسُ هَارِبَةٌ وَالْمَوْتُ يَطْلُبُهَا وَكُلُّ عَثْرَةِ رَجُلٍ عِنْدَهَا جَلَلُ وَالْمَرْءُ يَسْعَى بِمَا يَسْعَى لِوَارِثِهِ وَالْقَبْرُ وَارِثُ مَا يَسْعَى لَهُ الرَّجُلُ وَقَالَ ابْنُ دُرَيْدٍ، عَنِ الرِّيَاشِيِّ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سَلَامٍ قَالَ: رَأَتْ جَارِيَةٌ لِلْمَنْصُورِ ثَوْبَهُ مَرْقُوعًا فَقَالَتْ: خَلِيفَةٌ وَقَمِيصُهُ مَرْقُوعٌ؟! فَقَالَ: وَيْحَكِ! أَمَا سَمِعْتِ مَا قَالَ ابْنُ هَرْمَةَ: قَدْ يُدْرِكُ الشَّرَفَ الْفَتَى وَرِدَاؤُهُ خَلَقٌ وَجَيْبُ قَمِيصِهِ مَرْقُوعُ وَمِنْ شَعْرِهِ لَمَّا عَزَمَ عَلَى قَتْلِ أَبِي مُسْلِمٍ الْخُرَاسَانِيِّ: إِذَا كُنْتَ ذَا رَأْيٍ فَكُنْ ذَا عَزِيمَةٍ فَإِنَّ فَسَادَ الرَّأْيِ أَنْ تَتَرَدَّدَا وَلَا تُمْهِلِ الْأَعْدَاءَ يَوْمًا بِقُدْرَةٍ وَبَادِرْهُمْ أَنْ يَمْلِكُوا مِثْلَهَا غَدَا وَلَمَّا قَتَلَهُ وَرَآهُ طَرِيحًا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ قَالَ: قَدِ اكْتَنَفَتْكَ خَلَّاتٌ ثَلَاثٌ جَلَبْنَ عَلَيْكَ مَحْتُومَ الْحِمَامِ خِلَافُكَ وَامْتِنَاعُكَ مِنْ يَمِينِي وَقَوْدُكَ لِلْجَمَاهِيرِ الْعِظَامِ وَمِنْ شَعْرِهِ أَيْضًا: الْمَرْءُ يَأْمُلُ أَنْ يَعِي شِ وَطُولُ عُمْرٍ قَدْ يَضُرُّهْ تَبْلَى بَشَاشَتُهُ وَيَبْ قَى بَعْدَ حُلْوِ الْعَيْشِ مُرُّهْ وَتَخُونُهُ الْأَيَّامُ حَتَّ ى لَا يَرَى شَيْئًا يَسُرُّهْ كُمْ شَامِتٍ بِي إِنْ هَلَكْ تُ وَقَائِلٍ لِلَّهِ دَرُّهْ قَالُوا: وَكَانَ الْمَنْصُورُ فِي أَوَّلِ النَّهَارِ يَتَصَدَّى لِلْأَمْرِ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيِ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ، وَالْوِلَايَاتِ وَالْعَزْلِ، وَالنَّظَرِ فِي الْمَصَالِحِ الْعَامَّةِ، فَإِذَا صَلَّى الظُّهْرَ دَخَلَ مَنْزِلَهُ، وَاسْتَرَاحَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ إِلَى الْعَصْرِ، فَإِذَا صَلَّاهَا جَلَسَ لِأَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ وَمَصَالِحِهِمُ الْخَاصَّةِ، فَإِذَا صَلَّى الْعَشَاءَ نَظَرَ فِي الْكُتُبِ وَالرَّسَائِلِ الْوَارِدَةِ مِنَ الْآفَاقِ، وَجَلَسَ عِنْدَهُ مَنْ يُسَامِرُهُ إِلَى ثُلُثِ اللَّيْلِ، ثُمَّ يَقُومُ إِلَى أَهْلِهِ، فَيَنَامُ فِي فِرَاشِهِ إِلَى الثُّلُثِ الْآخِرِ، فَيَقُومُ إِلَى وَضُوئِهِ وَصَلَاتِهِ حَتَّى يَتَفَجَّرَ الصَّبَاحُ، ثُمَّ يَخْرُجُ فَيُصَلِّي بِالنَّاسِ، ثُمَّ يَدْخُلُ فَيَجْلِسُ فِي إِيوَانِهِ. وَقَدْ وَلَّى بَعْضَ الْعُمَّالِ عَلَى بَلَدٍ، فَبَلَغَهُ أَنَّهُ قَدْ تَصَدَّى لِلصَّيْدِ، وَأَعَدَّ لِذَلِكَ الْكِلَابَ وَالْبُزَاةَ، فَكَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ الْمَنْصُورُ: ثَكِلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ وَعَدِمَتْكَ عَشِيرَتُكَ، وَيْحَكَ! إِنَّا إِنَّمَا اسْتَكْفَيْنَاكَ أُمُورَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ، وَلَمْ نَسْتَكْفِكَ أُمُورَ الْوُحُوشِ، فَسَلِّمْ مَا كُنْتَ تَلِي مِنْ عَمَلِنَا إِلَى فُلَانٍ، وَالْحَقْ بِأَهْلِكَ مَلُومًا مَدْحُورًا. وَأُتِيَ يَوْمًا بِخَارِجِيٍّ قَدْ هَزَمَ جُيُوشَ الْمَنْصُورِ غَيْرَ مَرَّةٍ، فَلَمَّا أُوقِفَ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ قَالَ لَهُ الْمَنْصُورُ: وَيْحَكَ! يَا ابْنَ الْفَاعِلَةِ، مِثْلُكُ يَهْزِمُ الْجُيُوشَ؟ فَقَالَ الْخَارِجِيُّ: وَيْلَكَ، سَوْءَةٌ لَكَ! بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ أَمْسِ السَّيْفُ وَالْقَتْلُ، وَالْيَوْمَ الْقَذْفُ وَالسَّبُّ! وَمَا يُؤَمِّنُكَ أَنْ أَرُدَّ عَلَيْكَ وَقَدْ يَئِسْتُ مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ، فَلَا تَسْتَقِيلُهَا أَبَدًا؟! قَالَ: فَاسْتَحْيَا مِنْهُ الْمَنْصُورُ وَأَطْلَقَهُ. فَمَا رَأَى لَهُ وَجْهًا إِلَى الْحَوْلِ. وَقَالَ أَيْضًا: يَا بُنَيَّ، لَيْسَ الْعَاقِلُ مَنْ يَحْتَالُ لِلْأَمْرِ الَّذِي وَقَعَ فِيهِ حَتَّى يَخْرُجَ مِنْهُ، وَلَكِنَّهُ الَّذِي يَحْتَالُ لِلْأَمْرِ الَّذِي غَشِيَهُ حَتَّى لَا يَقَعَ فِيهِ. وَقَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ أَيْضًا يَوْمًا لِابْنِهِ الْمَهْدِيِّ: يَا بُنَيَّ، لَا تَجْلِسْ مَجْلِسًا إِلَّا وَعِنْدَكَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ مَنْ يُحَدِّثُكَ; فَإِنَّ الزُّهْرِيَّ قَالَ: عِلْمُ الْحَدِيثِ لَا يُحِبُّهُ إِلَّا ذُكْرَانُ الرِّجَالِ، وَلَا يَكْرَهُهُ إِلَّا مُؤَنَّثُوهُمْ، وَصَدَقَ أَخُو زُهْرَةَ. وَقَدْ كَانَ الْمَنْصُورُ فِي شَبِيبَتِهِ يَطْلُبُ الْعِلْمَ مِنْ مَظَانِّهِ وَالْحَدِيثَ وَالْفِقْهَ، فَنَالَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ جَانِبًا جَيِّدًا، وَطَرَفًا صَالِحًا، وَقَدْ قِيلَ لَهُ يَوْمًا: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، هَلْ بَقِيَ شَيْءٌ مِنَ اللَّذَّاتِ لَمْ تَنَلْهُ؟ قَالَ: لَا، سِوَى شَيْءٍ وَاحِدٍ. قَالُوا: وَمَا هُوَ؟ فَقَالَ: قَوْلُ الْمُحَدَّثِ لِلشَّيْخِ: مَنْ ذَكَرْتَ، رَحِمَكَ اللَّهُ؟ فَاجْتَمَعَ وُزَرَاؤُهُ وَكُتَّابُهُ، وَجَلَسُوا حَوْلَهُ، وَقَالُوا: لِيُمْلِ عَلَيْنَا أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ شَيْئًا مِنَ الْحَدِيثِ. فَقَالَ: لَسْتُمْ بِهِمْ، إِنَّمَا هُمُ الدَّنِسَةُ ثِيَابُهُمْ، الْمُشَقَّقَةُ أَرْجُلُهُمْ، الطَّوِيلَةُ شُعُورُهُمْ، بُرُدُ الْآفَاقِ، وَنَقْلَةُ الْحَدِيثِ. وَقَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ يَوْمًا لِلْمَهْدِيِّ: كَمْ عِنْدَكَ رَايَةً؟ فَقَالَ: لَا أَدْرِي. فَقَالَ: هَذَا هُوَ التَّقْصِيرُ، أَنْتَ لِأَمْرِ الْخِلَافَةِ أَشَدُّ تَضْيِيعًا، فَاتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَا بُنَيَّ. وَقَالَتْ خَالِصَةُ إِحْدَى حَظِيَّاتِ الْمَهْدِيِّ: دَخَلْتُ يَوْمًا عَلَى الْمَنْصُورِ وَهُوَ يَشْتَكِي ضِرْسَهُ، وَيَدَاهُ عَلَى صُدْغَيْهِ، فَقَالَ لِي: كَمْ عِنْدَكِ مِنَ الْمَالِ يَا خَالِصَةُ؟ فَقُلْتُ: أَلْفُ دِرْهَمٍ. فَقَالَ: ضَعِي يَدَكِ عَلَى رَأْسِي وَاحْلِفِي. فَقُلْتُ: عِنْدِي عَشَرَةُ آلَافِ دِينَارٍ. قَالَ: اذْهَبِي فَاحْمِلِيهَا إِلَيَّ. قَالَتْ: فَذَهَبْتُ حَتَّى دَخَلْتُ عَلَى سَيِّدِي الْمَهْدِيِّ وَهُوَ مَعَ وَزَوْجَتِهِ الْخَيْزُرَانِ، فَشَكَوْتُ إِلَيْهِ مَا قَالَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، فَرَكَلَنِي بِرِجْلِهِ، وَقَالَ: وَيْحَكِ! إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ بِهِ وَجَعٌ، وَلَكِنِّي سَأَلْتُهُ بِالْأَمْسِ مَالًا، فَتَمَارَضَ وَإِنَّهُ لَا يَسَعُكِ إِلَّا مَا أَمَرَكِ بِهِ. فَذَهَبَتْ إِلَيْهِ خَالِصَةُ وَمَعَهَا عَشَرَةُ آلَافِ دِينَارٍ، فَاسْتَدْعَى بِالْمَهْدِيِّ، فَقَالَ لَهُ: تَشْكُو الْحَاجَةَ وَهَذَا كُلُّهُ عِنْدَ خَالِصَةَ؟ ! وَقَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ لِخَازِنِهِ: إِذَا عَلِمْتَ بِمَجِيءِ الْمَهْدِيِّ فَائْتِنِي بِخُلْقَانِ الثِّيَابِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَجِيءَ. فَجَاءَ بِهَا فَوَضَعَهَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ، وَدَخَلَ الْمَهْدِيُّ وَالْمَنْصُورُ يُقَلِّبُهَا، فَجَعَلَ الْمَهْدِيُّ يَضْحَكُ، فَقَالَ لَهُ: يَا بُنَيَّ، مَنْ لَيْسَ لَهُ خَلَقٌ مَا لَهُ جَدِيدٌ، وَقَدْ حَضَرَ الشِّتَاءُ فَنَحْتَاجُ نُعِينُ الْعِيَالِ وَالْوَلَدَ. فَقَالَ الْمَهْدِيُّ: عَلَيَّ كُسْوَةُ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَعِيَالِهِ. فَقَالَ: دُونَكَ فَافْعَلْ. وَذَكَرَ ابْنُ جَرِيرٍ عَنِ الْهَيْثَمِ، أَنَّ الْمَنْصُورَ أَطْلَقَ فِي يَوْمٍ وَاحِدٍ لِبَعْضِ أَعْمَامِهِ أَلْفَ أَلْفِ دِرْهَمٍ. وَفِي هَذَا الْيَوْمِ فَرَّقَ فِي أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ عَشَرَةَ آلَافِ دِرْهَمٍ، وَلَا يُعْلَمُ خَلِيفَةٌ فَرَّقَ مِثْلَ هَذَا فِي يَوْمٍ وَاحِدٍ. وَقَرَأَ بَعْضُ الْقُرَّاءِ عِنْدَ الْمَنْصُورِ: الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ [ الْحَدِيدِ: 24 ]. فَقَالَ: وَاللَّهِ لَوْلَا أَنَّ الْمَالَ حِصْنٌ لِلسُّلْطَانِ وَدِعَامَةٌ لِلدِّينِ وَالدُّنْيَا وَعِزُّهُمَا وَزِينَتُهُمَا مَا بِتُّ لَيْلَةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا أُحْرِزُ مِنْهُ دِينَارًا وَلَا دِرْهَمًا; لِمَا أَجِدُ لِبَذْلِ الْمَالِ مِنَ اللَّذَاذَةِ، وَلِمَا أَعْلَمُ فِي إِعْطَائِهِ مِنْ جَزِيلِ الْمَثُوبَةِ. وَقَرَأَ عِنْدَهُ قَارِئٌ آخَرُ: وَلَا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَى عُنُقِكَ وَلَا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ الْبَسْطِ [ الْإِسْرَاءِ: 29 ]. فَقَالَ: مَا أَحْسَنَ مَا أَدَّبَنَا رَبُّنَا عَزَّ وَجَلَّ! وَقَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ: سَمِعْتُ أَبِي يَقُولُ: سَمِعْتُ أَبِي; عَلِيَّ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ يَقُولُ: سَادَةُ النَّاسِ فِي الدُّنْيَا الْأَسْخِيَاءُ، وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ الْأَتْقِيَاءُ. وَلَمَّا عَزَمَ الْمَنْصُورُ عَلَى الْحَجِّ فِي هَذِهِ السَّنَةِ - أَعْنِي سَنَةَ ثَمَانٍ وَخَمْسِينَ وَمِائَةٍ - دَعَا وَلَدَهُ الْمَهْدِيَّ وَلِيَّ عَهْدِهِ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ فَأَوْصَاهُ فِي خَاصَّةِ نَفْسِهِ وَفِي أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ وَبِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ خَيْرًا، وَعَلَّمَهُ كَيْفَ يَفْعَلُ الْأَشْيَاءَ، وَيَسُدُّ الثُّغُورَ بِوَصَايَا يَطُولُ بَسْطُهَا، وَحَرَّجَ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ لَا يَفْتَحَ شَيْئًا مِنْ خَزَائِنِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ حَتَّى يَتَحَقَّقَ وَفَاتَهُ; فَإِنَّ بِهَا مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ مَا يَكْفِي الْمُسْلِمِينَ لَوْ لَمْ يُجْبَ إِلَيْهِمْ مِنَ الْخَرَاجِ دِرْهَمٌ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ، وَعَهِدَ إِلَيْهِ أَنْ يَقْضِيَ مَا عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الدَّيْنِ، وَهُوَ ثَلَاثُمِائَةِ أَلْفِ دِينَارٍ، فَإِنَّهُ لَمْ يَرَ قَضَاءَهَا مِنْ بَيْتِ الْمَالِ. فَامْتَثَلَ الْمَهْدِيُّ ذَلِكَ كُلَّهُ، وَأَحْرَمَ الْمَنْصُورُ بِحَجٍّ وَعُمْرَةٍ مِنَ الرُّصَافَةِ، وَسَاقَ بُدُنَهُ، وَقَالَ: يَا بُنَيَّ، إِنِّي وُلِدْتُ فِي ذِي الْحِجَّةِ، وَقَدْ وَقَعَ لِي أَنِّي أَمُوتُ فِي ذِي الْحِجَّةِ، وَهَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي حَدَانِي عَلَى الْحَجِّ عَامِي هَذَا. وَوَدَّعَهُ وَسَارَ، وَاعْتَرَاهُ مَرَضُ الْمَوْتِ فِي أَثْنَاءِ الطَّرِيقِ، فَمَا دَخَلَ مَكَّةَ إِلَّا وَهُوَ مُثْقَلٌ جِدًّا، فَلَمَّا كَانَ بِآخِرِ مَنْزِلٍ نَزَلَهُ دُونَ مَكَّةَ إِذَا فِي صَدْرِ مَنْزِلِهِ مَكْتُوبٌ: بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ. أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ حَانَتْ وَفَاتُكَ وَانْقَضَتْ سُنُوكَ وَأَمْرُ اللَّهِ لَا بُدَّ وَاقِعُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ هَلْ كَاهِنٌ أَوْ مُنَجِّمٌ لَكَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ كَرْبِ الْمَنِيَّةِ مَانِعُ فَدَعَا بِالْحَجَبَةِ، فَأَمَرَهُمْ بِقِرَاءَةِ ذَلِكَ، فَلَمْ يَرَوْا شَيْئًا، فَعَرَفَ أَنَّ أَجْلَهُ قَدْ نُعِيَ إِلَيْهِ. قَالُوا: وَرَأَى الْمَنْصُورُ فِي مَنَامِهِ، وَيُقَالُ: بَلْ هَتَفَ بِهِ هَاتِفٌ، وَهُوَ يَقُولُ: أَمَا وَرَبِّ السُّكُونِ وَالْحَرَكْ إِنَّ الْمَنَايَا كَثِيرَةُ الشَّرَكْ عَلَيْكِ يَا نَفْسُ إِنْ أَسَأْتِ وَإِنْ أَحْسَنْتِ يَا نَفْسُ كَانَ ذَاكَ لَكْ مَا اخْتَلَفَ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَلَا دَارَتْ نُجُومُ السَّمَاءِ فِي الْفَلَكْ إِلَّا بِنَقْلِ السُّلْطَانِ عَنْ مَلِكٍ إِذَا انْقَضَى مُلْكُهُ إِلَى مَلِكْ حَتَّى يَصِيرَا بِهِ إِلَى مَلِكٍ مَا عَزَّ سُلْطَانُهُ بِمُشْتَرَكِ ذَاكَ بَدِيعُ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاَلْ مُرْسِي الْجِبَالَ الْمُسَخِّرُ الْفَلَكِ فَقَالَ الْمَنْصُورُ: هَذَا وَاللَّهِ أَوَانُ حُضُورِ أَجَلِي وَانْقِضَاءِ عُمْرِي. وَكَانَ قَدْ رَأَى قَبْلَ ذَلِكَ فِي قَصْرِهِ الْخُلْدِ الَّذِي بَنَاهُ وَتَأَنَّقَ فِيهِ، مَنَامًا أَفْزَعَهُ، فَقَالَ لِلرَّبِيعِ: وَيْحَكَ يَا رَبِيعُ! لَقَدْ رَأَيْتُ مَنَامًا هَالَنِي; رَأَيْتُ قَائِلًا وَقَفَ فِي بَابِ هَذَا الْقَصْرِ، وَهُوَ يَقُولُ: كَأَنِّي بِهَذَا الْقَصْرِ قَدْ بَادَ آهِلُهُ وَعُرِّيَ مِنْهُ أَهْلُهُ وَمَنَازِلُهُ وَصَارَ رَئِيسُ الْقَوْمِ مِنْ بَعْدِ بَهْجَةٍ إِلَى جَدَثٍ تُبْنَى عَلَيْهِ جَنَادِلُهُ فَمَا أَقَامَ فِي الْخُلْدِ إِلَّا أَقَلَّ مِنْ سَنَةٍ حَتَّى خَرَجَ إِلَى الْحَجِّ عَامَهُ هَذَا، وَمَرِضَ فِي طَرِيقِ مَكَّةَ، فَدَخَلَهَا مُدْنَفًا ثَقِيلًا. وَكَانَتْ وَفَاتُهُ لَيْلَةَ السَّبْتِ لِسِتٍّ - وَقِيلَ: لِسَبْعٍ - مَضَيْنَ مِنْ ذِي الْحِجَّةِ. وَكَانَ آخَرَ مَا تَكَلَّمَ بِهِ أَنْ قَالَ: اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِي لِقَائِكَ. وَيُقَالُ: إِنَّهُ قَالَ: يَا رَبِّ، إِنْ كُنْتُ عَصَيْتُكَ فِي أُمُورٍ كَثِيرَةٍ فَقَدْ أَطَعْتُكَ فِي أَحَبِّ الْأَشْيَاءِ إِلَيْكَ; شَهَادَةِ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُخْلِصًا. ثُمَّ مَاتَ. وَكَانَ نَقْشُ خَاتَمِهِ: اللَّهُ ثِقَةُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، وَبِهِ يُؤْمِنُ. وَكَانَ عُمْرُهُ يَوْمَ وَفَاتِهِ ثَلَاثًا وَسِتِّينَ سَنَةً عَلَى الْمَشْهُورِ; مِنْهَا ثِنْتَانِ وَعِشْرُونَ سَنَةً فِي الْخِلَافَةِ، وَدُفِنَ بِبَابِ الْمُعَلَّى، رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ. قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ابْنُ جَرِيرٍ: وَمِمَّا رُثِيَ بِهِ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْمَنْصُورُ، رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ، قَوْلُ سَلْمٍ الْخَاسِرِ الشَّاعِرِ: عَجَبًا لِلَّذِي نَعَى النَّاعِيَانِ كَيْفَ فَاهَتْ بِمَوْتِهِ الشَّفَتَانِ مَلِكٌ إِنْ غَدَا عَلَى الدَّهْرِ يَوْمًا أَصْبَحَ الدَّهْرُ سَاقِطًا لِلْجِرَانِ لَيْتَ كَفًّا حَثَتْ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابًا لَمْ تَعُدْ فِي يَمِينِهَا بَبَنَانُ حِينَ دَانَتْ لَهُ الْبِلَادُ عَلَى الْعَسْ فِ وَأَغْضَى مِنْ خَوْفِهِ الثَّقَلَانِ أَيْنَ رَبُّ الزَّوْرَاءِ قَدْ قَلَّدَتْهُ الْ مُلْكَ عِشْرُونَ حِجَّةً وَاثْنَتَانِ إِنَّمَا الْمَرْءُ كَالزِّنَادِ إِذَا مَا أَخَذَتْهُ قَوَادِحُ النِّيرَانِ لَيْسَ يَثْنِي هَوَاهُ زَجْرٌ وَلَا يَقْ دَحُ فِي حَبْلِهِ ذَوُو الْأَذْهَانِ قَلَّدَتْهُ أَعِنَّةَ الْمُلْكِ حَتَّى قَادَ أَعْدَاءَهُ بِغَيْرِ عَنَانٍ يُكْسَرُ الطَّرْفُ دُونَهُ وَتُرَى الْأَيْ دِي مِنْ خَوْفِهِ إِلَى الْأَذْقَانِ ضَمَّ أَطْرَافَ مُلْكِهِ ثُمَّ أَضْحَى خَلْفَ أَقْصَاهُمْ وَدُونَ الدَّانِي هَاشِمِيُّ التَّشْمِيرِ لَا يَحْمِلُ الثِّقْ لَ عَلَى غَارِبِ الشَّرُودِ الْهِدَانِ ذُو أَنَاةٍ يَنْسَى لَهَا الْخَائِفُ الْخَوْ فَ وَعَزْمٍ يَلْوِي بِكُلِّ جَنَانِ ذَهَبَتْ دُونَهُ النُّفُوسُ حِذَارًا غَيْرَ أَنَّ الْأَرْوَاحَ فِي الْأَبْدَانِ وَقَدْ دُفِنَ الْمَنْصُورُ بِثَنِيَّةِ الْمُعَلَّى عِنْدَ بَابِ مَكَّةَ، وَلَا يُعْرَفُ قَبْرُهُ; لِأَنَّهُ عُمِّيَ قَبْرُهُ; فَإِنَّ الرَّبِيعَ حَفَرَ مِائَةَ قَبْرٍ، وَدَفَنَهُ فِي غَيْرِهَا لِئَلَّا يُعْرَفَ.
Translation
✧ This is the biography of Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr. He is ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hāshim, Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr. He was older than his brother Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ, and his mother was an umm walad named Sallāmah. He related from his father, from his grandfather, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to wear a ring on his right hand. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir cited it through the transmission of Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Sulamī from al-Maʾmūn, from al-Rashīd, from al-Mahdī, from his father al-Manṣūr. Allegiance was pledged to him for the caliphate after his brother in Dhū al-Ḥijjah, year one hundred thirty-six AH, and his age that day was forty-one years, because he was born in the year ninety-five AH, according to the well-known view, in Ṣafar of that year, at al-Ḥumaymah. His caliphate lasted twenty-two years less some days. He was brown-skinned, with abundant locks of hair reaching to his shoulders, a thin beard, a broad forehead, an aquiline nose with a clear bridge, with large eyes as if his two eyes were two speaking tongues. He was mingled with the majesty of kingship, hearts accepted him and eyes followed him. Nobility was recognized in his humility, noble origin in his appearance, and sound intellect in his gait. Thus one who saw him described him. It has been authentically reported from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: From us are al-Saffāḥ, al-Manṣūr, and al-Mahdī. In another narration: until he hands it over to ʿĪsā ibn Maryam ﷺ. It has been reported as marfūʿ, but its attribution to the Prophet is not sound. Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī mentioned that his mother Sallāmah said: When I was pregnant with him, I saw as if a lion came out of me, roared, and sat back on its haunches. No lion remained but it came and prostrated to him. Al-Manṣūr in his youth saw a strange dream, and he used to say: It ought to be written on tablets of gold and hung on the necks of children. He said: I saw as if I were in the Sacred Mosque, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was inside the Kaʿbah, with people gathered around it. A herald came out from him and called: Where is ʿAbd Allāh? My brother al-Saffāḥ stood up, stepping over men until he reached the door of the Kaʿbah. He took him by the hand and brought him inside. It was not long before he came out with a black banner. Then it was called: Where is ʿAbd Allāh? I and my uncle ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlī raced, and I beat him to the door of the Kaʿbah and entered it. There was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and Bilāl. He tied a banner for me, enjoined me to care for his community, and wrapped a turban around my head, folding it twenty-three folds, and said: Take it to you, O father of the caliphs, until the Day of Resurrection. Al-Manṣūr happened to be imprisoned in the days of the Umayyads, and he met in prison the astrologer Nawbakht, who discerned in him signs of leadership. He said to him: From whom are you? When he learned his lineage and kunyah, he said: You are the caliph who will rule the earth. He said to him: Woe to you! What are you saying? He said: It is as I tell you. Write me a note in this piece of paper that you will give me something when you rule. So he wrote it for him. When he ruled, al-Manṣūr honored him, gave him, and Nawbakht embraced Islam at his hands—before that he had been a Magian—and then he became one of al-Manṣūr's closest companions. Al-Manṣūr performed the pilgrimage with the people in the year one hundred and forty AH, entering iḥrām from al-Ḥīrah; and in the year one hundred and forty-four; and in the year one hundred and forty-seven; and in the year one hundred and fifty-two; then in this year in which he died. He built Madīnat al-Salām Baghdad, al-Rāfiqah, and the Palace of al-Khuld. Al-Rabīʿ b. Yūnus, the chamberlain, said: I heard al-Manṣūr say: The caliphs are four: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. The kings are four: Muʿāwiyah, ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān, Hishām b. ʿAbd al-Malik, and I. Mālik said: Al-Manṣūr said to me: Who are the most excellent of people after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? I said: Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. He said: You are right, and that is the view of the Commander of the Faithful. From Ismāʿīl al-Fihrī, who said: I heard al-Manṣūr on the pulpit at ʿArafah on the day of ʿArafah saying: O people, I am only God's authority on His earth. I govern you by His success and guidance, and I am His treasurer over His wealth, distributing it by His will and giving it by His permission. God has made me a lock over it; if He wills to open me for giving you and distributing your provisions, He opens me, and if He wills to lock me over it, He locks me. So desire from God, O people, and ask Him—on this noble day in which He granted you of His bounty what He taught you in His Book, when He says: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion" [al-Māʾidah: 3]—to grant me success in what is right, to direct me to guidance, to inspire me with compassion for you and kindness to you, and to open me for giving you and distributing your provisions with justice among you. Indeed He is Hearing, Responsive. One day he was delivering a sermon, and a man interrupted him while he was praising Allah, Mighty and Majestic, saying: O Commander of the Faithful, remember the One you are remembering, and fear God in what you do and leave. Al-Manṣūr fell silent until the man's speech ended, then said: I seek refuge with God from being among those of whom God, Mighty and Majestic, said: "And when it is said to him, 'Fear Allah,' pride in sin takes hold of him" [al-Baqarah: 206], or from being a disobedient tyrant. O people, admonition came down upon us and was made clear from us. Then he said to the man: I do not think that in this speech of yours you desire the face of God; you only wanted it to be said: He admonished the Commander of the Faithful. O people, do not let this man deceive you into doing as he did. Then he ordered that he be kept under guard, and he returned to his sermon and completed it. Then he said to one of his attendants: Offer him worldly things; if he accepts, inform me, and if he refuses, inform me. The attendant kept at him until the man took the money and the slave-girls. Al-Manṣūr appointed him to the office of ḥisbah and maẓālim, and he was brought before the caliph in fine attire and fine clothes and appearance. The caliph said to him: Woe to you! If you had been sincere, you would not have accepted any of what I see, but you only wanted it to be said about you: He admonished the Commander of the Faithful and rebelled against him. Then he ordered him to be executed, and his neck was struck. Al-Manṣūr said to his son al-Mahdī: The caliph is only set right by piety, the sultan is only set right by obedience, and the subjects are only set right by justice. The people most deserving of pardon are those most capable of punishment, and the most deficient in intellect is he who wrongs one beneath him. He also said: My son, perpetuate blessings through gratitude, power through pardon, obedience through conciliation, and victory through humility and mercy to people. Do not forget your share of this world and your share of God's mercy. Mubārak b. Faḍālah once came to him after he had ordered a man to be executed and had brought out the leather mat and the sword. Mubārak said to him: I heard al-Ḥasan say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When the Day of Resurrection comes, a herald will call: Let him whose reward is with God stand up. None will stand except those who have pardoned. So he ordered that the man be pardoned, then he began enumerating to his sitting companions the enormity of the man's crimes and what he had done. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: A man was brought to al-Manṣūr to be punished, and he said: O Commander of the Faithful, retribution is justice, and pardon is virtue. We seek refuge for the Commander of the Faithful with God from choosing for himself the lesser of the two shares instead of attaining the higher of the two degrees. So he pardoned him. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: Al-Manṣūr said to a man from Syria: Praise God, O Bedouin, who lifted the plague from you by our rule. The man said: God would not combine for us bad dates and short measure—your rule and the plague. The stories about his forbearance and pardon are very numerous. One of the ascetics entered upon al-Manṣūr and said: God has given you the world in its entirety, so purchase your soul with part of it, and remember a night you will spend in the grave, before which you never spent a night, and remember a night that births a day after which there is no night. His words silenced al-Manṣūr, and he ordered money for him, but he said: If I needed your money, I would not have admonished you. It has been reported from ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd al-Qadarī that he entered upon al-Manṣūr, who honored him, treated him with respect, and seated him near, and asked about his family and dependents. Then he said: Admonish me. So he recited to him the beginning of Sūrat al-Fajr up to His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed your Lord is ever watchful" [al-Fajr: 14]. Al-Manṣūr wept intensely, as if he had never heard these verses before that moment. Then he said: Give me more. He said: God has given you the world in its entirety, so purchase your soul with part of it. This matter was for those before you, then it came to you, and then it will go to those after you. Remember a night that will dawn upon the Day of Resurrection. Al-Manṣūr wept more intensely than his first weeping, until his eyelids quivered. Sulaymān b. Mujālid said to him: Be gentle with the Commander of the Faithful. ʿAmr said: What harm is it for the Commander of the Faithful to weep out of fear of God, Mighty and Majestic? Then al-Manṣūr ordered ten thousand dirhams for him, but he said: I have no need of it. Al-Manṣūr said: By God, you shall take it. He said: By God, I shall not take it. Al-Mahdī, who was sitting in his black garments with his sword beside his father, said to him: Does the Commander of the Faithful swear and you swear? ʿAmr turned to al-Manṣūr and said: Who is this? He said: This is my son Muḥammad al-Mahdī, heir apparent after me. He said: You have named him a name he does not deserve by this deed of his, and you have dressed him in garments that are not the garments of the righteous. You have prepared for him a matter from which he benefits most when you are most distracted from him. Then he turned to al-Mahdī and said: O son of my brother, if your father swears, your uncle swears, because your father is more capable of expiation than your uncle. Then al-Manṣūr said: O Abū ʿUthmān, do you have any need? He said: Yes. He said: What is it? He said: Do not send for me until I come to you. He said: Then by God, we will never meet. He said: You asked me about my need. So he bade him farewell and departed. When he turned away, al-Manṣūr followed him with his eyes, saying: All of you walk slowly, all of you seek game—except ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd. It is said that ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd recited to al-Manṣūr a poem in his admonition of him, which is: O you whom hope has deceived, while below what he hopes are vexation and the appointed term. Do you not see that this world and its adornment are like the halting place of riders who stopped and then departed? Its deaths lie in wait, its life is hardship, its purity is turbid, and its dominion shifts among nations. It keeps striking its dweller with terrors, so neither ease nor argument avails him. He is like a target for fates and destruction, in which the daughters of time keep shooting. Its circles turn him wherever they turn, some hit the mark and some miss and slip. The soul flees while death pursues it, and every slip of a man is immense in its sight. A man strives for what his heir will inherit, and the grave inherits what the man strives for. Ibn Durayd said, from al-Riyāshī, from Muḥammad b. Sallām: A slave-girl of al-Manṣūr saw his garment patched and said: A caliph with a patched shirt? He said: Woe to you! Have you not heard what Ibn Harmah said: A youth may attain nobility while his cloak is worn and the opening of his shirt is patched. And from his poetry when he resolved to kill Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī: If you have judgment, be a man of resolve, for the corruption of judgment is to waver. Do not give enemies a day's respite while you have power, but fall upon them before they seize the like of it tomorrow. When he killed him and saw him thrown before him, he said: Three traits have surrounded you that brought upon you the inevitable decree of death: your opposition and your refusal of my oath, and your leading of the great multitudes. And from his poetry also: A man hopes to live, and length of life may harm him. His cheerfulness wears out, and after the sweetness of life its bitterness remains. The days betray him until he sees nothing that delights him. How many gloat over me if I perish, and how many say: Excellent! They said: At the beginning of the day, al-Manṣūr attended to commanding right and forbidding wrong, appointments and dismissals, and examining public interests. When he prayed the noon prayer, he entered his house and rested until the afternoon prayer. When he prayed it, he sat with his household and their private affairs. When he prayed the evening prayer, he looked at books and letters arriving from the horizons, and those who conversed with him sat with him until a third of the night. Then he rose to his family and slept in his bed until the last third of the night, then rose to his ablution and prayer until dawn broke. Then he went out and prayed with the people, then entered and sat in his hall. He once appointed one of his officials over a town, and it reached him that the man had devoted himself to hunting and prepared dogs and falcons for it. Al-Manṣūr wrote to him: May your mother be bereaved and your kin lose you! Woe to you! We entrusted you with the affairs of the Muslims, not the affairs of wild beasts. Hand over the work you were overseeing to so-and-so, and rejoin your family blamed and driven away. One day a Khārijite was brought in who had defeated al-Manṣūr's armies more than once. When he was made to stand before him, al-Manṣūr said to him: Woe to you, you son of a doer! Can someone like you defeat armies? The Khārijite said: Woe to you, shame on you! Yesterday between you and me was the sword and killing, and today it is slander and insults! What guarantees you that I will not answer you back, now that I have despaired of life, and you will never recover from it? Al-Manṣūr felt ashamed before him and released him, and did not see his face for a year. He also said: My son, the intelligent man is not one who devises a way out of a matter after he has fallen into it, but one who devises a way to avoid a matter before it befalls him. Al-Manṣūr also said one day to his son al-Mahdī: My son, do not sit in a gathering unless you have with you a scholar who can narrate to you, for al-Zuhrī said: Knowledge of ḥadīth is loved only by males among men and disliked only by its effeminate ones. And the brother of Zuhrah spoke the truth. In his youth al-Manṣūr sought knowledge from its sources, ḥadīth, and fiqh, and obtained a good share and a sound portion of it. One day it was said to him: O Commander of the Faithful, is there any of the pleasures that you have not attained? He said: No, except one thing. They said: What is it? He said: The saying of a transmitter to a shaykh: "Whom did you mention, may God have mercy on you?" So his viziers and secretaries gathered and sat around him and said: Let the Commander of the Faithful dictate to us something from ḥadīth. He said: You are not them. They are the ones with dusty clothes, cracked feet, and long hair, the cloaks of the horizons and the transmitters of ḥadīth. One day al-Manṣūr said to al-Mahdī: “How many banners do you have?” He replied: “I do not know.” So he said: “This is negligence. You, for the matter of the caliphate, are more wasteful. Fear God, O my son.” Khāliṣah, one of al-Mahdī’s favorite concubines, said: “One day I entered upon al-Manṣūr while he was complaining of a toothache, with his hands on his temples. He said to me: ‘How much money do you have, O Khāliṣah?’ I said: ‘A thousand dirhams.’ He said: ‘Put your hand on my head and swear.’ So I said: ‘I have ten thousand dinars.’ He said: ‘Go and bring it to me.’ She said: ‘So I went until I entered upon my master al-Mahdī while he was with his wife al-Khayzurān, and I complained to him about what the Commander of the Faithful had said. He kicked me with his foot and said: ‘Woe to you! He has no pain, but yesterday I asked him for money, so he feigned illness. Nothing will avail you but to do as he commanded.’ So Khāliṣah went to him with ten thousand dinars. He summoned al-Mahdī and said to him: ‘You complain of need while all this is with Khāliṣah?!’” Al-Manṣūr said to his treasurer: “When you know of al-Mahdī’s coming, bring me the worn-out clothes before he arrives.” He brought them and placed them before him. Al-Mahdī entered while al-Manṣūr was turning them over. Al-Mahdī began to laugh, so he said to him: “O my son, whoever has no old clothes has no new clothes. Winter has come, and we need to help the dependents and children.” Al-Mahdī said: “The clothing of the Commander of the Faithful and his dependents is upon me.” He said: “Take charge of it then, and do it.” Ibn Jarīr mentioned, on the authority of al-Haytham, that al-Manṣūr gave in a single day to one of his paternal uncles a million dirhams, and on that day he distributed among his household ten thousand dirhams. No caliph is known to have distributed the like of this in a single day. A reciter read before al-Manṣūr: “Those who are stingy and enjoin people to be stingy” [al-Ḥadīd: 24]. He said: “By God, were it not that wealth is a fortress for the sultan, a support for religion and this world, and their might and adornment, I would not spend a single night while I am hoarding a single dinar or dirham from it—because of the pleasure I find in spending wealth, and because of what I know of the abundant reward in giving it.” Another reciter read before him: “And do not make your hand chained to your neck, nor extend it completely” [al-Isrāʾ: 29]. He said: “How well our Lord, mighty and majestic, has disciplined us!” Al-Manṣūr said: “I heard my father say: I heard my father, ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh, say: ‘The masters of people in this world are the generous, and in the Hereafter the God-fearing.’” When al-Manṣūr resolved to perform the pilgrimage in this year—I mean the year 158 AH—he summoned his son al-Mahdī, his heir apparent after him, and enjoined him to treat well his own self, his household, and all the Muslims. He taught him how to conduct affairs and to secure the frontier fortresses with lengthy instructions. He strictly charged him not to open anything from the treasuries of the Muslims until he was certain of his death, for they contained enough wealth to suffice the Muslims for ten years even if not a single dirham of the land tax were collected for them. He also charged him to pay off his debt, which was three hundred thousand dinars, for he did not consider it proper to pay it from the public treasury. Al-Mahdī complied with all of that. Al-Manṣūr entered the state of iḥrām for ḥajj and ʿumrah from al-Ruṣāfah, and he drove his sacrificial camels. He said: “O my son, I was born in Dhū al-Ḥijjah, and it has occurred to me that I will die in Dhū al-Ḥijjah. This is what has prompted me to perform the pilgrimage this year of mine.” He bade him farewell and departed. The illness of death befell him during the journey, and he did not enter Makkah except severely burdened. When he was at the last stopping place he camped at before Makkah, behold, at the front of his lodging was written: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” Abū Jaʿfar, your death has drawn near and your years have elapsed; the command of God must inevitably come to pass. Abū Jaʿfar, can any soothsayer or astrologer today ward off from you the anguish of fate? He called the chamberlains and ordered them to read that, but they saw nothing. So he knew that his appointed time had been announced to him. They said: Al-Manṣūr saw in his sleep—and it is said, rather, a voice called out to him—and it was saying: Indeed, by the Lord of stillness and motion, truly the fates are many of snare. Upon you, O soul, if you do evil, and if you do good, O soul, that is for you. Night and day do not alternate, nor do the stars of heaven revolve in the celestial sphere, Except by the transfer of sovereignty from one king, when his reign ends, to another king, Until they bring him to a King whose sovereignty is not exalted by any partner. That is the Originator of heaven and earth, and the One who fixed the mountains, and subjected the celestial sphere. Al-Manṣūr said: “This, by God, is the time of the arrival of my appointed end and the expiration of my life.” Before that, in his palace al-Khuld, which he had built and adorned, he had seen a dream that frightened him. He said to al-Rabīʿ: “Woe to you, O Rabīʿ! I have seen a dream that terrified me. I saw a speaker standing at the gate of this palace, saying: It is as if I see this palace, its inhabitants have perished, and its people and dwellings have been stripped from it; And the chief of the people, after splendor, has gone to a grave over which stones are built. He did not remain in al-Khuld except less than a year until he set out for the pilgrimage in this year of his, and fell ill on the way to Makkah, entering it sick and heavy. His death occurred on Saturday night, six—or it was said, seven—nights having passed of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. The last words he spoke were: “O God, bless me in meeting You.” It is said that he said: “O Lord, if I have disobeyed You in many matters, I have obeyed You in the most beloved of things to You: bearing witness that there is no god but God, sincerely.” Then he died. The inscription on his signet ring was: “God is the trust of ʿAbd Allāh, and in Him he believes.” His age on the day of his death was sixty-three years according to the well-known view, of which twenty-two years were in the caliphate. He was buried at Bāb al-Muʿallā, may God have mercy on him. Abū Jaʿfar Ibn Jarīr said: Among the elegies composed for Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr, may God have mercy on him, is the poem of Salm al-Khāsir, the poet: Wonder at the one whose death the two announcers announced—how did the two lips utter his death? A king who, if he set out one day against time, time would fall upon its neck. Would that the hand that cast dust upon him never again had fingers in its right hand. When the lands submitted to him by force, and the two weighty ones lowered their eyes in fear of him. Where is the lord of al-Zawrāʾ? The kingdom had been entrusted to him for twenty-two pilgrimages. Man is but like a firestick when the strikers of fire take hold of it. No rebuke can turn his desire, nor can men of intellect strike a spark in his rope. The reins of sovereignty were placed around his neck until he led his enemies without a halter. The gaze is cast down before him, and the hands are seen, out of fear of him, reaching to the chins. He gathered the outlying regions of his kingdom, then became behind their farthest and before the nearest. A Hāshimite of earnest endeavor, he does not place the heavy burden upon the withers of a runaway, sluggish camel. Possessing deliberateness that makes the fearful forget fear, and resolve that bends every heart. Souls went forth before him in caution, yet the spirits remained in the bodies. Al-Manṣūr was buried at Thaniyyat al-Muʿallā, near the gate of Makkah, and his grave is not known, because his grave was concealed. Al-Rabīʿ dug a hundred graves and buried him in a different one so that it would not be known.
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.