al-Asad ibn Mamati

al-Asad ibn Mamati (544–606 AH / 1149–1209 CE) was an Egyptian administrator, poet, and man of letters who directed the government bureaus under the Ayyubid dynasty al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Origin and education

His full name was Abu al-Makarim As'ad ibn al-Khatir Abi Sa'id Muhadhdhab ibn Mina ibn Zakariyya ibn Abi Qudama ibn Abi al-Malih Mamati al-Misri, also known by the honorific Sharaf al-Din Wafayat al-Ayan+1. He belonged to a prominent Coptic family hailing from Asyut in Upper Egypt that had long served in administrative roles; his great-grandfather Abu al-Malih was a secretary to the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarik…+1. One account explains the ancestral nickname Mamati as having originated during a famine in Egypt under the caliph al-Mustansir, when Abu al-Malih distributed wheat to Muslim children, who would call him "Mamati" al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya a…+1.

His family converted to Islam around the start of Ayyubid rule, when Asad al-Din Shirkuh assumed the vizierate, at which time Ibn Mamati was around twenty years old Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi l…+1. In Alexandria he heard hadith from Abu Tahir al-Silafi, and in Cairo from the jurist Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Ghaznawi Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarik…+1.

Administrative career and literary standing

Ibn Mamati succeeded his father as head of the army bureau (diwan al-jaysh) and was confirmed as director of the state bureaus (nazir al-dawawin) in 586 AH under Sultan Saladin al-Muqaffa al-Kabir+1. He became a close associate of al-Qadi al-Fadil, who held him in high esteem and referred to him as "the nightingale of the assembly" (bulbul al-majlis) for his eloquence and conversational skill al-Muqaffa al-Kabir+1. Imad al-Din al-Isfahani praised his epistolary style and verse after meeting him in Cairo Kharidat al-Qasr wa Jarid…+1.

During his bureaucratic career, Ibn Mamati composed Qawanin al-Dawawin (The Rules of the Bureaus) for Sultan al-Aziz Uthman, documenting the administrative divisions of Egypt, its land revenue, irrigation systems, and fiscal regulations al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya a…+1. He also composed a versified biography of Saladin (Sirat Salah al-Din) Wafayat al-Ayan+1, and authored al-Fashush fi Ahkam Qaraqush (The Absurdities in the Judgments of Qaraqush), a satirical work targeting Saladin's deputy Baha' al-Din Qaraqush Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi l…+1.

Trial, exile, and death

When Sultan al-Adil took power in Egypt, his vizier Safi al-Din Ibn Shukr, harboring a long-standing personal grievance against Ibn Mamati, turned against him al-Wafi bil-Wafayat+1. Ibn Shukr subjected him to severe confiscations and directed soldiers to extract payments from him al-Wafi bil-Wafayat+1. Stripped of his wealth, Ibn Mamati went into hiding in the al-Madharaiyyun cemetery in Cairo's al-Qarafa for a year before fleeing in disguise to Syria al-Wafi bil-Wafayat.

He sought refuge in Aleppo with its ruler, al-Zahir Ghazi, who received him cordially, took him into his service, and assigned him an ongoing stipend Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarik…+1. Ibn Mamati resided in Aleppo until his death on Sunday at the end of Jumada al-Ula 606 AH (another report specifies 28 Jumada al-Ula) at the age of sixty-two al-Mawaiz wal-Itibar bi D…+1. He was buried outside Aleppo near the tomb of Abu Bakr al-Harawi Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi….