Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (21 page)

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(1) In the name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Among the things ordered to be built is this blessed curtain wall (2) our lord the sultan al-Malik
(3) Sharaf al-Dunyā wal-Dīn
b. al-Malik
(4) Sayf al-Dunyā wal-Dīn Abū Bakr b. Ayyūb in
(5) II in the year 612/1214–15 under the command of the servant (6) the needy of Allāh’s mercy,
al-Dīn
.

The inscriptions bear the names of thee more figures who supervised the scores of workers and craftsmen. The first is
al-Din Aybak; since he in the course of his long career participated in the construction of quite a few substantial military and civil buildings in the region, he should be properly introduced. He began as a mamluk of the ruler of Damascus. Later he was appointed
ustādār
(head of the sultan’s household) by
and was given
. Among the buildings in whose construction he is known to have taken part are the fortresses at Azraq, and
, madrasas in both Jerusalem and Damascus, and khāns.
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He was obviously an experienced builder and administrator.
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He did not remain for the whole duration of the construction at Mount Tabor; only one inscription bears his name and it is dated 609/1212, which can be regarded as a fairly early stage of the building. His name appears two years later, in 1214, on an inscription at
.
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The word
al-khādim
appearing next to his name may be translated literally as servant, but it often has the meaning of eunuch.
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Ibn Khallikān says Aybak was a mamluk and so the word
khādim
should be translated simply as servant. However, throughout the Ayyubid period many important fortifications were built, supervised and governed by eunuchs whose loyalty to the Sultan was thought to be unquestionable. The walls of Cairo and its citadel as well as the fortifications of Acre were entrusted to Bahā’ al-Dīn Qarāqush al-Asadī, who was one of Saladin’s most trusted amirs and more than likely a eunuch.
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G
Mount Tabor, inscription commemorating the work of Aybak
al-Din