Page 147 - Arabian Studies (I)

The Yemenite Settlement ofThacbat 131

son. And this was no small favour. It is obvious from the sources of
the times that Sanca’ was a rich prize, granted only to one much in
favour with the monarch. Later in the Simt, we get further
information on the identity of Qutb al-DTn. Addressing a recalcitrant
governor who had claimed that he had acted with the authority of
Qutb al-DTn, al-Malik al-Muzaffar says: ‘Do you not know that a
father guides aright (yurshidu) only the eldest of his children? Who is
more rightly guided, Qutb al-DTn or I?’4 8 Qutb al-DTn is thus the son
of al-Malik al-Mansur, the reigning sultan at the time of the building
of the cistern, since al-Malik al-Muzaffar was the latter’s son also.
Perhaps the two did not, however, have the same mother, in view of
the references to Qutb al-DTn’s mother as simply Umm Qutb al-DTn.
It is surprising that we are not provided with the other names of
Qutb al-DTn, neither in the inscription, nor in theSimt.
In line 3, khalladahu must be regarded as a scribal error and
khallada Tld/i mulkahu read in its place. Muhammad b. Hatim uses
this wish regularly after the name of al-Malik al-Ashraf, the future
ruler, during the lifetime of his father, al-Malik al-Muzaffar,4 9 but
the expression is extraordinary in this context.
In line 4, Sunday, 1st al-Muharram, 645 is the equivalent of 8 May
1247.
Line 5 contains a number of other letters at the end which are
illegible.