Sirat al-Zahir Baibars

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Sirat al-Zahir Baibars سيرة الظاهر بيبرس (life of al-zahir Baibars), also known as " al-Sirah al-Zahiriya", is a long Arabic folkloric tale that narrates the life and heroic achievements of the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Baibars al-Bunduqdari which probably took its final form at the end of the Mamluk era.

Contents 1 Background 2 Style and history 3 Characters 4 The narrative 5 Notes 6 References 7 See also

[edit] Background

Baibars (1223 – 1277), the Kipchak Turk who was captured when a child by the Mongols and was sold as a slave to Emir of Hama Ala'a al-Din al-Bunduqdar and in Egypt he served as the commander of the guards of the Ayyubid Sultan As-Salih Ayyub ^[1] He made his first heroic appearance inside Egypt ^[2]. during the Battle of Al Mansurah in 1250 when the Frankish troops led by the French king Louis IX advanced suddenly to the Egyptian military camp at Jadila جديله . With his fellow Mamluks, Baibars successfully confronted and pushed back the attacking troops of the Franks out of Al Mansurah to their camp where they stayed besieged until they retreated as far as Fariskur where they were utterly destroyed and king Louis IX and other nobles were captured and chained. In 1260, Baibars who was a commander in the Egyptian army, played a crucial role in defeating the Mongol army at the Battle of Ain Jalut. After he became the Sultan of Egypt in 1260, he continued his struggle against the crusaders and the Mongols who kept threatening the Islamic world. He defeated the crusaders in three crusades and routed a Mongolian army at the Battle of Elbistan. In addition to his heroic victories, he made many social and administrative reforms inside Egypt and was an outstanding builder and a skilled diplomat. Baibars was beloved and highly respected by the common Egyptians and earned titles such as The Lion of Egypt and Father of The Poor and Miserables.

For a few centuries folkloric epics where told about him by storytellers in coffee houses known by the name al-Zahiriya ( Arabic: al-Maqahi al-Zahiriya ) and booklets about his life were sold in the streets and alleys of old Cairo. A district in Cairo known by the name Alzahir was dedicated to al-Zahir Baibars.

Throughout the history of medieval and modern Egypt no other ruler had such an enormous impact upon the commons. The tales of Baibars that filled thousands of pages were collected and published.

[edit] Style and history

The sirah was composed in prose, frequently rhymed and sometimes interrupted by poetry and proverbs. During the oral performance in coffee houses the storytellers used to sing using a rebab. Egyptian dialect that was used often, together with the scenes and the names of characters, indicates it was produced in Egypt and in Cairo in particular during the Mamluk era up to the early Ottoman era ( a period exceeds two centuries ). The well structured story that contains all literal elements and combines reality with fantasy, covers a vast area that includes the Islamic world, south Europe and even the English islands.

[edit] Characters

Beside Baibars himself, the main characters of the Sirah are Sultan as-Salih Ayyub who appears as a saintly ruler with supernatural powers, Shajar al-durr, Aybak, a minister named Shahin, a wicked crusader named Juan and a few friends of Baibars among them the Fidaweyah and Jamal al-Din Shiha^[3], a tricky man who possesses unparalleled abilities to disguise in various forms.

[edit] The narrative

Baibars at the beginning of the Sirah appears as a sick, but very intelligent, boy from Khwarezm called Mahmud. He was a son of a Khwarezmi king named Qan Shah Jamk and was captured and sold as a slave for a very cheap price. He went to Egypt with as-Salih Ayyub's cousin Najm Al-Din who told him about its great pyramids, mosques, writers and poets. In Egypt he served in the court of Sultan As-Salih Ayyub who with his wife (Fatma) Shagat al-Durr^[4] treated him as own son. Mahmud al-khwarezmi learned through oracles and dreams that he will be Baibars the king of Egypt and Syria who will defend Islam and defeat its enemies. Juan the tricky patriarch crusader, who served at the Sultan's court as Qadi al-Diwan (supreme judge) after he came to Egypt and pretended to be a known muslim juriprudent named Salah al-Din al-Iraqi, kept conspiring with Aybak against Baibars and stirring the Christian kings of Europe against the Islamic world by telling them Christ inspires him and promises them victory. But Baibars, with the help of his friends, could always overcome Juan's plots and tricks.

Aybak and Qalawun, appear in the story as enemies of Baibars and when Sultan as-Salih Ayyub died Baibars was falsely accused of killing him and when (Isa) Turanshah fell from a tower and died Baibars was again accused of killing him. Aybak's personality in the story is of a wicked and a feeble man not respected either by his wife, shajart al-Durr, or by the commons. After killing him with a sword, shajart al-durr, while escaping from his furious son, fell from the castle and died. Baibars became the Sultan of Egypt^[5] and defended the Islamic world and at the end of the story he arrested the wicked patriarch crusader Juan and executed him.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Sirat al-Zahir Baibars, Printed by Mustafa al-Saba, Cairo 1923.
• Idem Repulished in 5 volumes by Alhay'ah Almisriyah , Editor Gamal El-Ghitani , Cairo 1996, ISBN 977-01-4642-0
• Alzahir Baibars, Dar Almaref, Cairo 1986
• Gamal El-Ghitani, Sirat Alzahir Baibars 1996
• Al-Maqrizi, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997.
• Idem in English: Bohn, Henry G., The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades, AMS Press, 1969.
• Sadawi. H, Al-Mamalik, Maruf Ikhwan, Alexandria.
• The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Macropædia,H.H. Berton Publisher,1973-1974
• Culture Encyclopedia, Kitab alshab, Cairo 1972

[edit] See also

• Baibars al-Bunduqdari