Sayf ad-Dīn al-Qaymarī's Epitaph

 

The following four-line inscription occupies the tabula ansata on the lintel of one of the mausoleum's windows:

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ ۗ هذا تربة الفقير إلى

الله تعالى الأمير الكبير المجاهد المرابط ركن الاسلام كهف الأنام مقدّم الغزاة والمجاهدين

سيف الدين أبي الحسن ابن الامير أسد الدين يوسف ابن أبي الفوارس بن موسك القيمري

توفّي الى رحمةِ الله تعالى ليلة الإثنين الثالث من شعبان سنة أربع وخمسين وستماية رحِمَهُ الله برحمَتِهِ

1. In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Every soul shall taste death! (1) This is the grave of the poor servant
2. in need of Almighty God, the great emir, the muǧāhid, the frontier defender, the Pillar of Islam, the refuge of mankind, the leader of the raiders and the muǧāhidīn,
3. Sayf ad-Dīn Abu al-Ḥasan, son of the emir ʾAsad ad-Dīn Yūsuf, son of abu al-Fawāris ibn Musk al-Qaymarī.
4. He passed to the mercy of Almighty God on the night of Monday, the third of Šaʿbān, in the year 654 AH. (2) May God have mercy upon him.

1. Qurʾān 3:185. 

2. August 26, 1256 CE. 

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Ernst Herzfeld. Damascus, Studies in Architecture III. Ars Islamica XI-XII 1946 (p. 1-71).

The credit for reading the inscription belongs to Dr. Samīr al-Bayǧ (d. October 9, 2023). 

Photo credit: Michel Écochard.