Jerusalem, the City of Herod and SaladinBesant, Walter
History
Jerusalem, the City of Herod and Saladin
Besant, Walter
Jerusalem -- Description and travel; Jerusalem -- History
rival or enemy of Hakem, the calf (_‘ejl_) being opposed to the
Universal Intelligence (_‘aḳl_) just mentioned.
Footnote 40:
The following account of the Druzes, as well as that of the life
of Hakem, is abridged from the ‘Exposé de la Religion des Druzes,’
by the celebrated Orientalist, Sylvestre de Sacy.
Before his death, Hakem appears to have somewhat relaxed in his
persecutions of the Jews and Christians; the latter were allowed to
rebuild their churches, and many who had become apostates openly
renounced Mohammedanism, and were rebaptized into the Christian
community.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre thus destroyed must have been (see
p. 133) very speedily repaired, for we find, during the reign of El
Mostanser Billah, Hakem’s grandson, that the fabric was completely
restored, the permission of the caliph having been obtained by the
release of five thousand Muslim prisoners on the part of the Greek
emperor.
In the year 1016 a fresh earthquake occurred, and the great cupola
over the Sakhrah fell down, though without much injury happening to
the foundations of the building. The walls at the south-west angle
of the Haram es Sheríf also suffered by the shock, and a Cufic
inscription tells us that the damage done in that quarter was
repaired by Ed Dháher li ‘Ezaz dín Alláh. The same prince also
restored the cupola itself, as we learn from another inscription,
engraved upon the wooden framework of the cupola, and repeated at
each of the four points of the compass. It runs as follows: “In the
name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate! ‘None repair the
mosques of God but such as believe in Him’ (Cor. c. v.) The Imám Abu
el Hasan ed Dháher li ‘Ezaz dín Allah, son of El Hakem bi Amr Illah,
Prince of the Faithful (the blessing of God be upon his noble
ancestry!), ordered the restoration of this blessed cupola. The work
was executed by the servant of God, the Emír, the confidant of the
Imáms, the prop of the empire, ‘Alí ibn Ahmed Ináhet Allah, in the
year 413 (A.D. 1022). May God perpetuate the glory and stability of
our lord the Commander of the Faithful, and make him to possess the
east and west of the earth! We praise God at the beginning and end
of all our works.”
In 1034 fresh earthquakes devastated Syria and Egypt; some of the
walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, and a large portion of the Mihráb
Dá‘úd (that is, the building now called the Cala‘at Jálút) fell to
the ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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