Egypt, its news, wonders, marvels, kings

“…the tail of the crocodile is a deep-seated and hidden hole and a bay with the color of fleece and a cape, and a cloak with a reddish color.

This kind of flood is seen in the feast of the cross, and its water is like milk.

It is the fourth [month] after the flood, which is the month of Tut, and who are Ayyar and Ihlul, and we have mentioned the fermented wine that is called this day after the flood in this book.

The Nabidh al-Shidri is taken from the water of Egypt in the months of Tubah, Abib, and Kanun al-Thani after the flood.

It is the most beautiful in its flavor and clarity.

What happens in this flood is that the people of Egypt take pride in the clarity of the Nile in it.

In it, the water of the Nile becomes mournful in the months of Abīb, Dimyat, and Tutah and the large villages and the flood of Egypt is a matter of its people, for people are not in it… and in the night of the tenth of Kanun al-Thani, and the year has passed for 36 years.

Its end is in the month of Athar, and Majd ibn Takh is in his house, which is known for its choice location on the island of the rider, and the Nile flows on the riverbank.”

“…and he used to come out from the side of the well with the sound of a drum, and the crowd would be burning with torches and enjoyment.

The Nile was brought by the most handsome of the people from those countries, and from them a group from the people of Alexandria came to him.

They are in their houses near the Nile, and the one who is responsible for them is on the coast.

They bring out their most beautiful things, and they show them from food, drinks, clothing, gold tools, and jewels, and the filling of the fields and the cutting of the cane, and the best night is the night of its filling.

Its people are happy and they celebrate with drums and horns, and they drink from the wine of the drums and rejoice.

As for the tragedies that are mentioned about the knowledge of the Nile and its decline, I heard from a group of skilled people that when the prophet Joseph, may Allah be pleased with him, took up the Nile…”

“…which is the nilometer used to know the rise and fall of the Nile.

And that is a thing that is not hidden.

There was no nilometer in Fustat until the days of the Queen of the Lakes, al-Jawhar, and a nilometer was placed in the land of Atfih and al-Saeed, and a nilometer was also placed in other lands, and they all have the same end in knowing the manufactured nilometers.

The Nile would bring roses of the water, and they would receive them.

From the days of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, a nilometer was placed in Hulwan over the nilometer of Fustat.

A nilometer was taken by Usama ibn Zayd al-Tanukhi. It was placed in the island called Jazirat al-Sina’a, which is an island between al-Fustat and the Red Sea, and the crossing to it is from al-Fustat to the bridge.

From it is a bridge to the island of al-Jawharah, and it is on the side of the west of the Nile.

It was previously on the side of the east. The largest of these nilometers was taken by Usama in the days of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, with a cubit…”

“…and he is the person who works on the nilometer, and this is a year of two hundred and ninety-nine. And the two nilometers and their endings in al-Fustat and in Hulwan are what they use to measure with. And they would measure with the nilometer of al-Ma’moul, which was not used after the days of Ibn Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik.

This is the other island of the Nile, and it and the surrounding land are the possession of Ibn Tulun. And the work on it is mostly for the Nile, and the tides and the differences in the winds.

The land of Egypt has become big and prosperous, and the rivers and streams are filled with water and their surroundings are green. And Egypt is irrigated from 6-10 sources, which they tell about, and from them are its canals and their branches and tributaries.

Egypt had 7 bays:

1. The bay of Alexandria
2. The bay of Taha
3. The bay of Dimyat
4. The bay of Manuf
5. The bay of al-Qalyub
6. The bay of Sardous
7. The bay of al-Muhayy

Egypt was in what is called the remembrance of the great lake and other countries. And that is because its gardens are connected to the banks of the Nile from beginning to end.

“…the border of Aswan to Rashid. And when the water reached a rise of nineteen cubits, it entered the canal of al-Mufahha, the canal of Fayoum, the canal of Sardous, and the canal of Tilla.

The one who was in charge of digging the canal of Sardous for Pharaoh, the enemy of God, Haman, when he began to dig it, the people of the villages came to him, asking him to allow the canal to flow under their villages, and they would give him whatever he wanted of money for that.

He did so until he had accumulated great wealth. And he carried that wealth to Pharaoh. When he placed it before him, Pharaoh asked him about it, and he informed him.

Pharaoh then said, ‘It is not befitting for a master to show kindness to his servants or to accept their gratitude or to desire what is in their hands. We are more deserving of doing this for our servants.’

So return to the people of every village what you have taken from them, for there is nothing in the land of Egypt with more goodness and benefits than the canal of Sardous.

As for the canal of Fayoum and the canal of al-Mufahha, they were dug by Joseph, son of Jacob.”

“This is because al-Rayyan ibn al-Walid, the king of Egypt, when he saw his dream of the cows and the ears of corn and Joseph interpreted it for him, he appointed him over what was in the land of Egypt.

God had already told him that upon his selection of his prophet Joseph with His saying, ‘Appoint me over the treasuries of the land; indeed, I am a knowing guardian.’

Al-Mas’udi said: ‘The people of faith have disagreed about the administration of the affairs of the believers with the corrupt.

Some of them believed that it is the duty of a ruler to be a believer, and were it not for that, it would not have been permissible for Joseph to assist the disbelievers and to act in their commands and prohibitions.

Some of them believed that it is permissible based on the circumstances of the time and what is best for the situation. We have mentioned the opinion of every group of these in our book on the topics of the fundamentals of religions.

As for the news of al-Fayoum from Upper Egypt…”

“…and its canals from the high ground and the flat lands. And this is an expression used by the people of Egypt to mean the lowlands. And how Joseph made them and their wonders for its prosperity after it was a pond and a bandage for the waters of Upper Egypt. And on an island that the water surrounded, they protected most of its sides.

We have mentioned that in the Middle Book, so it suffices and there is no need to repeat it in this book. Likewise, in the naming of Fayoum in the past, and that was a thousand days. And what was from the story of Joseph with the ministers and their envy of him. Egypt was, as is claimed by the people of knowledge and care for the news of this world, that the water of the Nile comes to its land and spreads over the lands of Upper Egypt to the bottom of the land. And the location of al-Fustat in our time. And the beginning of that was from a location known as al-Hanadil between Aswan and Abyssinia. We have previously mentioned this location in what has passed in this book, until it became… it had locations from…”

“…the movement and flow of water, and what is moved of the soil by its rivers from one place to another. So the water flows from some of those places in the lands of Egypt according to what we described from the owner of the authority in the construction and ruin of the land in what has passed in this book.

So the people in the lands of Egypt, and the water has not ceased to flow from their land since ancient times until the land of Egypt extended from the cities and buildings.

They were built for its canals and they established in their fronts the canals.

However, that is true from its inhabitants, but the knowledge of the first of its inhabitants and how that was has been lost over time.

We did not mention in that book the condition that caused the cities to be unpopulated, nor much of the news of Alexandria and how it was built, and the name that it was given and the kings who inhabited it from the Arabs and others.

We have already…”

“…on that in the Middle Book. And after this section, we will mention sentences from its news and summaries of how it was built, and what Alexander did in it. Al-Mas’udi said: ‘And it was that Ahmad ibn Tulun in Egypt was informed in the year two hundred and sixty-nine that a man in the upper lands of Egypt, from the land of Sa’id, who was one hundred and thirty years old, was a Copt who was referred to for his knowledge since his youth, and for his appearance and his supervision over opinions, and his endurance of the doctrines of the philosophers and others from the people of various religions.

He was considered a great figure in Egypt. And he was pleased with him for his goodness and his vastness and his news and the news of its kings, and that he was one of those who traveled the earth and was in the middle of the desert and witnessed the nations of various whites and blacks, and that he had knowledge of the form of the heavens, the stars, and the rulings.’ So Ahmad ibn Tulun sent men from his commanders on the Nile, honoring him…”