Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

332 IV. Ближний Восток и его соседи Translation : Siege of Crete and Loyalty towards God And Hasan bn. Muslim the Cretan narrated to me. I saw him when he had aged and had reached one hundred years. And he was healthy in his senses and physically sound. He said: “We insisted on raiding the Byzantines and they suffered severe discomfort from us and because of that the ruler of the Byzantines was annoyed and vowed to destroy Crete even if he had to spend the wealth of his kingdom. And he asked a monk who was loved and the Byzantines learnt from his asceticism. And he removed him from his place of worship and he (the emperor) gathered for himmost part of his army. And a number of soldiers, never collected before [for an expedition against Crete], were provided. And we [the Arabs] sought refuge by closing our fortress. And the Byzantines hurried to construct dwellings and after they had come out of their ships, they seized the supplies of the country and whatever existed in the surroundings [of Handax of Crete]. And the siege was strengthened and the prices [of commodities] increased and the food became scarce and suffering prevailed. Then the suffering increased to the point that the people due to the famine ate dead animals and they decided unanimously to open the gates [to the monk]… Summary of the end of the narration [Miraculous ending:] A suggestion follows by a sheikh to the Arabs to find refuge in God and pray loudly. When the chief of the Byzantine army [the monk] heard their cries, he died of a heart attack and the frightened Byzantines embarked their ships and departed. Commentary Ibn Dāya’s short narrration of a Byzantine attempt to reconquer Crete is of unique importance, because it is the only Arab account reporting any such attempt. The aim of Ibn Dāya — as in a number of his similar accounts- is moralistic trying through some real historical episodes to instruct his fellowMoslems to act properly in order to gain God’s grace and assistance.