The Crimea

وفيها: وقع الوباء ببلاد أزبك وخلت قرى ومدن من الناس، ثم اتصل الوباء بالقرم حتى صار يخرج منها في اليوم ألف جنازة أو نحو ذلك حكى لي ذلك من أثق به من التجار، ثم اتصل الوباء بالروم وهلك منهم خلق وأخبرني تاجر من أهل بلدنا قدم من تلك البلاد أن قاضي القرم قال: أحصينا من مات بالوباء فكانوا خمسة وثمانين ألفا غير من لا نعرفه، والوباء اليوم بقبرس والغلاء العظيم أيضا.

This year the pestilence struck the lands of Uzbek, and villages and cities were emptied of people. Then the pestilence reached the Crimea, until about a thousand funerals left the city in a single day. A merchant I trust told me this. Then the pestilence reached the Rum, and a great many of them died. A merchant from our town who came back from those lands told me what the judge of the Crimea had said: “We counted those who died of the pestilence. There were eighty-five thousand, not counting those we do not know about.” Today the pestilence is in Cyprus, and so are very high prices.

فمنها: اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد وسلم ونجنا بجاهه من طغيان الطاعون وسلم الطاعون روع وأمات وابتدأ خبره من الظلمات فواها له من زائر من خمس عشرة سنة دائر ما صين عنه الصين ولا منع منه حصن حصين سل هنديا في الهند واشتد على السند وقبض بكفيه وشبك على بلاد أزبك وكم قصم من ظهر فيما وراء النهر، ثم ارتفع ونجم وهجم على العجم وأوسع الخطا إلى أرض الخطا وقرم القرم ورمى الروم بجمر مضطرم وجر الجرائر إلى قبرص والجزائر ثم قهر خلقا بالقاهرة وتنبهت عينه لمصر فأذاهم بالساهرة وأسكن حركة الإسكندرية فعمل شغل الفقراء مع الحريرية.

From the essay: O God, bless our master Muhammad and grant him peace. Through his favor with You, save us from the tyranny of the plague, and keep us safe. The plague brought terror and death. Its story began in the Land of Darkness. Alas for this visitor, making its rounds for fifteen years! China was not shielded from it, and the strongest fortress could not keep it out. It drew its Indian blade in India, and it pressed hard on Sind. It seized the lands of Uzbek with both hands and locked its fingers around them. How many backs it broke in Transoxiana! Then it rose up, came into view, and fell on the Persians. It stretched its stride as far as Cathay. It gnawed at the Crimea and pelted the Rum with blazing coals. It dragged its crimes to Cyprus and the islands. Then it conquered people in Cairo. Its eye woke up to Egypt, and it struck them down on the plain of the Last Day. It stilled the bustle of Alexandria, and there it did the work of the Sufi poor among the Hariri brethren.