Page 139 - Arabian Studies (I)

The Yemenite Settlement ofThacbdt 123

establish Thacbal as a centre of learning. To the jdmic was added a
madrasah and teachers were appointed to teach the Qur’an, as well as
mii/iaddit/uin to give classes in hadith. The students were in the main
orphans, though not exclusively so. Finally and what is most
important, he provided a generous waqf to cover the expenses
involved. I 7
In 735/1334-5, al-Mujahid had one of his wazlrs, Jamal al-DTn
Muhammad b. Mu’min, arrested in Thacbat. Jamal al-DTn was a black
slave who originated from Zaylac. He had served the sultan well and
in 725/1324-5 had been sent as the Rasidid ambassador to the court
of the Mamluk sultan, al-Malik al-Nasir Nasir al-DTn Muhammad b.
Qala’un, from where he returned in the following year. Jamal al-DTn,
jealous of one of the sultan’s favourites at court, Muwaffaq al-DTn
c Abdallah b.c AIT b. Muhammad b. cUmar, incited al-Mujahid against
cAbdallah. The sultan however soon saw through his minister’s
behaviour and, summoning him to Thacbat, arrested and imprisoned
him. Jamal al-DTn was later put to death at al-Tackar.‘8
al-Malik al-Mujahid was succeeded at his death in 764/1362—3 by
his son, al-Malik al-Afdal cAbbas b. cAIT. al-Afdal, after entering
Tacizz, settled in Qasr Thacbat.19 He in turn was followed by his
son, IsmacTl b. c Abbas, who adopted the title al-Malik al-Ashraf. He
is reported to have spent the fast of Ramadan, 793/1391, in Thacbat,
which was given in al-KhazrajT’s report the epithet al-maQmurah.20
In the same year, celebrations were held in Thacbat to mark the
occasion of the circumcision of the sultan’s sons. A grand parade
took place on the maydan at which were present the ministers, amirs,
Fief holders and military personalities of importance in the Rasulid
state. : i
Not long after these celebrations, the waft of Thacbat, al-TawashT
Kamal al-DTn Fatin, died. Although this is the only reference met
with in the sources which mention such an office, we can conjecture
that a local government office might have existed from the time of
al-Mujahid’s expansion programme in 733/1332-3. Perhaps by wall
here was meant the official responsible for the 'township’ of
Thacbat.2 2
al-Malik al-Ashraf again spent Ramadan, 796/1394 in Thacbat. In
describing the event, al-KhazrajT called the town malirusat TJiacbat
al-tmcmitrah. cId al-Fitr was celebrated there with great pomp, the
sultan’s son, al-Malik ai-Nasir Ahmad, his successor as sultan, riding
at the head of the Rasulid forces on the maydan of the town.2 3
The final known reference to Thacbat in the medieval Yemenite
sources is under the year 822/1419—20, when mention was made of
its prison.24