Note 3 — Chapter XVI
Henry Yule translation
The same information is given in almost the same terms by Rashiduddin. (See
Elliot
, I. 69.) But he (at least in Elliot’s translation) makes
Shaikh Jumaluddin
the successor of the Devar, instead of merely the narrator of the circumstances. This is evidently a mistake, probably of transcription, and Wassáf gives us the true version.
The members of the Arab family bearing the surname of At-Thaibí (or Thíbí) appear to have been powerful on the coasts of the Indian Sea at this time. (1) The Malik-ul-Islám Jamáluddin Ibrahim At-Thaibí was Farmer-General of Fars, besides being quasi-independent Prince of Kais and other Islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the time of his death (1306) governor of Shiraz. He had the horse trade with India greatly in his hands, as is mentioned in a note (7) on next chapter. (2) The son of Jamáluddin, Fakhruddin Ahmed, goes ambassador to the Great Kaan in 1297, and dies near the coast of Ma’bar on his way back in 1305. A Fakhruddin Ahmed Ben Ibrahim at-Thaibí also appears in Hammer’s extracts as ruler of Hormuz about the time of Polo’s return. (See ante, vol. i. p. 121); and though he is there represented as opposed by Shaikh Jumáluddin (perhaps through one of Hammer’s too frequent confusions), one should suppose that he must be the son just mentioned. (3) Takiuddin Abdurrahmán, the Wazír and Marzbàn in Ma’bar; followed successively in that position by his son Surajuddín, and his grandson Nizamuddín. (Ilchan. II. 49–50, 197–198, 205–206; Elliot, III. 32, 34–35, 45–47.)