Ya’qub Ibn Al-Laith Al-Saffar was the founder of the Saffarid Dynasty of Sistan.  He lived from A.D. 840 to 879, and rose from humble origins in Afghanistan to conquer an immense area comprising parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. 

It is not our purpose here to recount his military campaigns, but only to relate some interesting anecdotes found in the confused pages of his biographer, Ibn Khallikan.  More may be revealed about a man’s character with a few stories, in fact, than may be extracted from a succession of dreary paragraphs on forgotten military campaigns.  About his background not much is known with certainty.  Conflicting sources portray him originally as a Kharijite, a Christian, or an Ismaili.  He acquired the name “Al-Saffar,” says Ibn Khallikan, because of his training as a coppersmith (sufr is the Arabic word for copper).  His brother Amr, we are told, was also practiced in this metallic trade.    

He must have been a man of great charisma and leadership qualities, for one does not rise from obscure poverty to the conquest of central Asia without extraordinary ability.  One fellow coppersmith who knew Ya’qub as a young man made the following observation about him, which is repeated by Ibn Khallikan (IV.331):  “I used to look at him from a place in which he could not perceive me, and I always saw him with his eyes cast down, like a person full of thought and absorbed in his reflections. After that, he became what we have seen.”  Another anecdote is related by Ali Ibn Al-Hakam, Ya’qub’s chamberlain, who provided this testimony:

I asked Ya’qub Ibn Al-Laith Al-Saffar how he came by the scar which disfigured him so much and which extended from the bridge of his nose across his cheek.  He replied that he got the wound in one of his encounters with the Kharijites.  A man whom he had wounded with his lance turned upon him and struck off with a sabre one half of his face.  The piece was then replaced and sewed on.  “During twenty days,” said he, “I remained with a tube in my mouth, which had to be maintained open lest the inflammation should extend to the head, and my food consisted of liquids which were poured down my throat.”

Despite this wound, says the chamberlain, “the emir went out as usual to direct the movements of his troops and fought like the others.”  A historian of Khorasan says that the cause of Ya’qub’s death was an “attack of colic” for which he declined to receive an injection.  He died after sixteen days of suffering.  On the flag of marble covering Ya’qub’s tomb was inscribed the following words, according to Ibn Khallikan (IV.320):

I ruled over Khorasan and the regions of Fars; neither did I dispair of ruling over Iraq.  But now, farewell to the world and to the sweetness of its zephyrs, Ya’qub no longer sits therein. 

Another historian states that Ya’qub’s bier was carried to Jundi Sapur and was interred there.  On his tomb the following words were allegedly carved:

This is the tomb of poor Ya’qub.  You confided in Fortune because she favored you, and you feared not the evils which destiny might bring on.  Fortune befriended you and you were deceived by her; days of prosperity are followed by days of trouble.

The historian Ibn Al-Athir relates the following anecdote about Ya’qub, which is repeated by Ibn Khallikan (IV.321).  The Abbasid caliph Al-Mutamid wanted to obtain Ya’qub’s good will.  He sent an envoy with a letter nominating him to be the emir of Fars.  When this ambassador arrived, Ya’qub received him with the following items by his side:  a sword, a small loaf of bread made of unbolted flour, and some onions.  Once the envoy delivered his message, Ya’qub responded as follows:

Tell the caliph that I am sick and that, if I die, he and I will be delivered from the uneasiness which each of us gives to the other.  But if I recover my health, nothing shall settle matters between us except this sword.  If he must try for vengeance, if he succeeds in ruining my power and reducing me to poverty, I shall return, as before, to bread and onions such as these.

In this artful way did Ya’qub convey his contempt for the material trappings of power.  The following story is told about Ya’qub’s brother Amr, who succeeded him in power.  It is amusing enough to be included here.  It is apparently found in Al Salami’s History of Khorasan, and repeated by Ibn Khallikan.  Amr paid his troops every three months and was always present when money was distributed.  Ibn Khallikan states as follows:

When [Amr] passed [the troops] in review, he took his seat and had the money placed before him in the presence of all the army. A crier then called out the name of Amr Ibn Al Laith, who immediately sent forward his horse fully equipped, and presented him for inspection.  The agent examined the animal and ordered the owner a donative of three hundred dirhams, measured by weight.  This sum was carried to him in purse which he took and kissed, saying:  “Praise be to God who hath held me in obedience to the Commander of the Faithful so that I deserved this gratification.”  He then placed it in one of his boots and left it to the servant who pulled them off. All those who received a fixed pay were then called forward, according to their rank, and they appeared be fore the inspector fully equipped and having with them their vigorous steeds.  They were then examined in order to obtain the certitude of their having about them every object, large or small, which is requisite for a horseman or a foot-soldier.  And, if even one of those things was missing, the delinquent was deprived of his pay.   

One day, Amr saw a mounted soldier pass before him whose horse seemed to be undernourished.  Amr said to the man:  “Soldier!  How dare you take our money and spend it upon your wife!  You fatten her up and allow your horse to grow lean on which you go to war, and which gains for you your salary! I will give you nothing!”  But the horseman replied, “My life for yours!  Sire, if you were to pass my wife in review, you would find that my horse is fatter than she is.” Amr laughed uproariously at this, and told the man to collect his pay and acquire another horse. 

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Be sure to check out the new, annotated translation of Cicero’s On The Nature Of The Gods:

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