ADVENTURE OF ʾABD-ALLÂH-IBN-MARWÂN.
275
ʾABD-ALLÂH-IBN-MARWÂN'S ADVENTURE
WITH THE KING OF NUBIA.
EL-MANSÛR was talking one day in his Assembly of the decline of the empire of the Benu-ʾOmeyyah, and of what had befallen them, and of how they had lived in happiness, but died in misery. And Ismaîl-ibn-ʾAly, el-Hâshimy, said to him, "Verily ʾAbd-Allâh-ibn-Marwân-ibn-Muhammad,[1] is in they
- ↑ See Translator's Note, p. 235. I find various accounts of the fate of ʾAbd-Allâh-ibn-Muhammad. Abu-Jaʾafar, et-Tábary, and el-Makîn assert that Muhammad left behind him two sons, ʾAbd-Allâh and ʾAbd-el-ʾAzîz; the former of whom was, after his father's death, taken and imprisoned, and so remained until the Khalîfate of Harûn, er-Rashîd, when he was released from his confinement, though he was still loaded with irons; and that he died childless, and was buried at Baghdâd. D'Herbelot, on the other hand, states as follows: "Il (Marwân-ibn-Muhammad) regna cinq ans ou environ, et les Abbasides firent mourir aprés sa mort tous ceux de sa Maison qu'ils putent avoir entre les mains. Il y en eut un cependant, lequel s'étant sauvé en Egypte, de là en Afrique, et passant en Espagne, y fonda une seconde Dynastie des Ommiades, qui prirent aussi en ce pays-là le titre des Khalifes." D'Herbelot says elsewhere that this founder of the dynasty in Spain was ʾAbd-Allâh. But in another place again throws doubt upon this statement by saying, "Il est vray cependant que Marvan le dernier de ces
