Muslims, Jews, and Christians Pray Together

شاهدت أيام الطاعون الأعظم بدمشق في أواخر شهر ربيع الثاني سنة تسع وأربعين، من تعظيم أهل دمشق لهذا المسجد ما يعجب منه وهو أن ملك الأمراء نايب السلطان أرغون شاه أمر مناديا ينادي بدمشق أن يصوم الناس ثلاثة أيام ولا يطبخ أحد بالسوق ما يؤكل نهارا، وأكثر الناس بها إنما يأكلون الطعام الذي يصنع بالسوق، فصام الناس ثلاثة أيام متوالية كان آخرها يوم الخميس،

I witnessed, in the days of the greatest plague at Damascus, at the end of the month of Rabiʿ the Second of the year [seven hundred] forty-nine, of the veneration of the people of Damascus for this mosque something to be wondered at; namely, that the king of the emirs, the deputy of the sultan, Arghūn Shāh, ordered a crier to call out in Damascus that the people should fast three days, and that no one should cook in the market what is eaten in the daytime; and most people there eat only the food that is made in the market. So the people fasted three successive days, the last of which was Thursday,

In the days of the Great Plague at Damascus, at the end of the month of Rabi II in the year [7]49,1 I saw something remarkable: how much the people of Damascus revere this mosque.2 The king of the emirs, the sultan’s deputy, Arghun Shah,3 ordered a crier to proclaim through Damascus that the people should fast for three days, and that no one should cook food in the market during the day. (Most people there eat only food prepared in the market.) So the people fasted three days in a row, the last of them a Thursday.

1. The year 749 of the Muslim calendar. Its fourth month, Rabi II, ended in late July 1348.
2. The Mosque of the Footprints, just outside Damascus on the road to the Hijaz, Jerusalem, and Egypt. Its name came from footprints in a stone, said to be those of Moses.
3. The governor of Syria, ruling from Damascus for the Mamluk sultan in Cairo. “King of the emirs” was the title of this office.

ثم اجتمع الأمراء والشرفاء والقضاة وساير الطبقات على اختلافها في الجامع حتى غص بهم وباتوا ليلة الجمعة ما بين مصل وذاكر وداع، ثم صلوا الصبح وخرجوا جميعا على أقدامهم وبأيديهم المصاحف، والأمراء حفاة

then the emirs and the sharifs and the judges and all the classes in their variety gathered in the Great Mosque until it was choked with them, and they spent the night of Friday between one praying, one remembering [God] and one calling [on Him]. Then they prayed the dawn [prayer] and went out all together on their feet, with the copies of the Quran in their hands, and the emirs barefoot.

Then the emirs, the sharifs,4 the judges, and people of every other class gathered in the Great Mosque until it was packed. They spent the night before Friday there, praying, chanting God’s praises, and calling on him. Then they said the dawn prayer and went out all together on foot, holding copies of the Quran, the emirs barefoot.

4. Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, an honored class.

وخرج جميع أهل البلد ذكورا وإناثا صغارا وكبارا، وخرج اليهود بتوراتهم، والنصارى بإنجيلهم، ومعهم النساء والولدان وجميعهم باكون متضرعون متوسلون إلى الله بكتبه وأنبيائه، وقصدوا مسجد الأقدام وأقاموا به في تضرعهم إلى قرب الزوال وعادوا إلى البلد فصلوا الجمعة وخفف الله تعالى عنهم فانتهى عدد الموتى إلى ألفين في اليوم الواحد، وقد انتهى عددهم بالقاهرة ومصر إلى أربعة وعشرين ألفا في يوم واحد.

And all the people of the town went out, male and female, small and great; and the Jews went out with their Torah, and the Christians with their Gospel, and with them the women and the children, and all of them weeping, humbly entreating, seeking access to God through His books and His prophets. And they made for the Mosque of the Footprints and stayed there in their entreaty until near the declining [of the sun at noon], and returned to the town and prayed the Friday [prayer]. And God, exalted, lightened [it] for them, and the number of the dead came at most to two thousand in a single day, while their number in Cairo and Miṣr had come to twenty-four thousand in one day.

The whole population of the city went out, men and women, young and old. The Jews came out with their Torah, and the Christians with their Gospel, with their women and children. All of them were weeping and pleading, calling on God through his books and his prophets. They went to the Mosque of the Footprints and stayed there, praying humbly, until nearly noon. Then they went back into the city and held the Friday prayer. God lightened the plague for them: the dead in a single day came to two thousand, while in Cairo and Misr the count had reached twenty-four thousand in one day.5

5. Misr was the old city of Fustat, beside Cairo. Later in his book (below) Ibn Battuta gives other figures: 2,400 a day at Damascus and 21,000 at Cairo.

وفي أوائل شهر ربيع الأول عام تسعة وأربعين بلغنا الخبر في حلب أن الوباء وقع بغزة وأنه انتهى عدد الموتى فيها إلى زائد على الآلف في يوم واحد! فسافرت إلى حمص فوجدت الوباء قد وقع بها، ومات يوم دخولي اليها نحو ثلاثمائة إنسان، ثم سافرت إلى دمشق ووصلتها يوم الخميس، وكان أهلها قد صاموا ثلاثة أيام وخرجوا يوم الجمعة إلى مسجد الأقدام حسبما ذكرناه في السفر الأول فخفف الله الوباء عنهم فانتهى عدد الموتى عندهم إلى ألفين وأربع مائة في اليوم! ثم سافرت إلى عجلون، ثم إلى بيت المقدس ووجدت الوباء قد ارتفع عنه ولقيت خطيبه عز الدين بن جماعة بن عم عز الدين قاضي القضاة بمصر وهو من الفضلاء الكرماء ومرتبه على الخطابة ألف درهم في الشهر.

And at the beginning of the month of Rabiʿ the First of the year forty-nine the news reached us in Aleppo that the pestilence had fallen on Gaza, and that the number of the dead there had reached more than a thousand in one day! So I traveled to Homs and found that the pestilence had fallen on it, and on the day I entered it about three hundred persons died. Then I traveled to Damascus and arrived there on Thursday; and its people had fasted three days, and they went out on Friday to the Mosque of the Footprints, as we mentioned in the first journey; and God lightened the pestilence for them, and the number of the dead among them reached two thousand four hundred a day! Then I traveled to ʿAjlūn, then to Bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem], and found that the pestilence had lifted from it. And I met its preacher, ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn Jamāʿa, the cousin of ʿIzz al-Dīn, the chief judge in Egypt; he is among the excellent and generous, and his salary for the preaching is a thousand dirhams a month.

At the beginning of the month of Rabi I in the year [7]49,6 news reached us in Aleppo that the pestilence had broken out in Gaza, and that more than a thousand people there had died in a single day. I traveled to Homs and found that the pestilence had struck there too. About three hundred people died on the day I arrived. Then I traveled on to Damascus and arrived on a Thursday. Its people had fasted for three days, and on the Friday they went out to the Mosque of the Footprints, as I told in the first part of this book. God lightened the pestilence for them, and the dead came to two thousand four hundred a day. Then I traveled to Ajlun, and from there to Jerusalem. I found that the pestilence had lifted there. I met its preacher, Izz al-Din ibn Jamaa, a cousin of Izz al-Din, the chief judge in Egypt. He is a learned and generous man, and he is paid a thousand dirhams a month for preaching.7

6. Early June 1348. Ibn Battuta was on his way home from India and China, traveling west through Syria.
7. The preacher gave the sermon at Friday prayers in the main mosque. A dirham was a silver coin.

وصنع الخطيب عز الدين يوما دعوة ودعاني فيمن دعاه إليها، فسألته عن سببها؟ فأخبرني انه نذر أيام الوباء أنه إن ارتفع ذلك ومر عليه يوم لا يصلي فيه على ميت صنع الدعوة! ثم قال لي: ولما كان بالامس لم أصل على ميت فصنعت الدعوة التي نذرت!! ووجدت من كنت أعهده من جميع الأشياخ بالقدس قد انتقلوا إلى جوار الله تعالى رحمهم الله، فلم يبق منهم إلا القليل مثل المحدث العالم الإمام صلاح الدين خليل بن كيكلدي العلائي، ومثل الصالح شرف الدين الخشي شيخ زاوية المسجد الأقصى.

And the preacher ʿIzz al-Dīn made a feast one day and invited me among those he invited to it, and I asked him about its reason. He told me that he had vowed in the days of the pestilence that if it lifted and a day passed over him on which he did not pray over a dead person, he would make the feast! Then he said to me: When it was yesterday, I did not pray over a dead person, so I made the feast which I vowed!! And I found that all of those I used to know of the shaykhs in Jerusalem had moved to the neighborhood of God, exalted, God have mercy on them; and none of them remained but a few, such as the hadith scholar, the learned imam Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Khalīl ibn Kaykaldī al-ʿAlāʾī, and such as the pious Sharaf al-Dīn al-Khushshī, shaykh of the Sufi lodge of al-Aqsa Mosque.

One day the preacher Izz al-Din gave a feast, and I was among the guests. I asked him what it was for. He told me that during the pestilence he had made a vow: if it lifted, and a day went by when he did not pray over a dead person, he would give a feast.8 Then he said to me, “Yesterday I did not pray over a single dead person, so I have given the feast I vowed!” I found that all the scholars I used to know in Jerusalem had gone to dwell near God, God have mercy on them. Only a few were left, such as the learned imam Salah al-Din Khalil ibn Kaykaldi al-Alai, a scholar of the Prophet’s sayings, and the pious Sharaf al-Din al-Khushshi, head of the Sufi lodge at al-Aqsa Mosque.

8. Muslims say a special prayer over the dead before burial.

ثم سافرت عن القدس، ورافقني الواعظ المحدث شرف الدين سليمان الملياني. وشيخ المغاربة بالقدس الصوفي الفاضل طلحة العبد الوادي فوصلنا إلى مدينة الخليل عليه السلام، وزرناه ومن معه من الانبياء عليهم السلام، ثم سرنا إلى غزة فوجدنا معظمها خاليا من كثرة من مات بها في الوباء، وأخبرنا قاضيها أن العدول بها كانوا ثمانين فبقى منهم الربع وان عدد الموتى بها انتهى إلى الف ومائة في اليوم.

Then I traveled from Jerusalem, and there accompanied me the preacher, the hadith scholar Sharaf al-Dīn Sulaymān al-Milyānī, and the shaykh of the Maghribis in Jerusalem, the excellent Sufi Ṭalḥa al-ʿAbdalwādī; and we arrived at the city of al-Khalīl, upon him be peace, and visited him and the prophets who are with him, upon them be peace. Then we went to Gaza, and we found most of it empty from the great number who had died there in the pestilence. And its judge told us that the notaries there had been eighty, and a quarter of them remained, and that the number of the dead there had reached a thousand and one hundred a day.

Then I left Jerusalem. The preacher Sharaf al-Din Sulayman al-Milyani, a scholar of the Prophet’s sayings, traveled with me, and so did Talha al-Abdalwadi, a learned Sufi and head of the North Africans in Jerusalem. We came to the city of Hebron, the city of Abraham, peace be upon him, and visited his tomb and those of the prophets buried with him.9 Then we went on to Gaza. We found most of it empty, because so many had died there in the pestilence. Its judge told us that there had been eighty notaries10 in the town, and only a quarter of them were left. He said that the dead there had reached one thousand one hundred a day.

9. Hebron’s Arabic name, al-Khalil, “the Friend [of God],” is Abraham’s title. Muslims, Jews, and Christians honored the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives there.
10. Men of good character, approved by the judge, who witnessed contracts and gave evidence in court.

ثم إلى الإسكندرية فوجدت الوباء قد خف بها بعد أن بلغ عدد الموتى إلى ألف وثمانين في اليوم، ثم سافرت إلى القاهرة، وبلغني أن عدد الموتى أيام الوباء انتهى فيها إلى أحد وعشرين ألفا في اليوم! ووجدت جميع من كان بها من المشايخ الذين أعرفهم قد ماتوا رحمهم الله تعالى.

then to Alexandria, and I found that the pestilence had lightened there after the number of the dead had reached a thousand and eighty a day. Then I traveled to Cairo, and it reached me that the number of the dead in the days of the pestilence had reached there twenty-one thousand a day! And I found that all of the shaykhs I knew who had been there had died, God, exalted, have mercy on them.

Then [I went on] to Alexandria. I found that the pestilence had eased there, after the dead had reached one thousand and eighty a day. Then I traveled to Cairo. I was told that in the days of the pestilence the dead there had reached twenty-one thousand a day. I found that all the scholars I knew there had died, God have mercy on them.

ولما وصلت القاهرة وجدت قاضي القضاة عز الدين بن قاضي القضاة بدر الدين ابن جماعة قد توجه إلى مكة في ركب عظيم يسمونه الرجبي لسفرهم في شهر رجب ... وأخبرت أن الوباء لم يزل معهم حتى وصلوا عقبة أيلة فارتفع عنهم.

And when I arrived at Cairo I found that the chief judge ʿIzz al-Dīn, son of the chief judge Badr al-Dīn ibn Jamāʿa, had set out for Mecca in a great caravan which they call al-Rajabī, for their traveling in the month of Rajab ... And I was told that the pestilence did not cease to be with them until they reached the pass of Ayla, and then it lifted from them.

When I arrived in Cairo, I found that the chief judge Izz al-Din, son of the chief judge Badr al-Din ibn Jamaa, had left for Mecca with a great caravan. They call it the Rajab caravan, because it travels in the month of Rajab. I was told that the pestilence stayed with them until they reached the pass of Ayla,11 and then it lifted.

11. Near modern Aqaba, at the head of the Red Sea, on the pilgrim road from Cairo to Mecca.

ووصلت إلى مدينة تازى وبها تعرفت خبر موت والدتي بالوباء رحمها الله تعالى.

And I arrived at the city of Tāzā, and there I learned the news of the death of my mother from the pestilence, God, exalted, have mercy on her.

I reached the town of Taza, and there I learned that my mother had died in the pestilence, God have mercy on her.12

12. Taza is in Morocco, east of Fez. The next lines date his arrival at Fez to the end of Shaban 750 (November 1349).