03/04/0863:
On Wednesday, 03/04/08693, amir Sayf al-Dīn Qānī Bāy b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥamzāwī, the nāʾib of Damascus, passed away there, aged around 80. He was buried the following day, Thursday that is.
He was originally a mamluk of Sūdūn al-Ḥamzāwī al-Ẓāhirī, the dawādār. Following the latter’s death, he served my father for a long time, together with a lot of his khushdāshīya. He then entered the service of al-Malik al-Muʾayyad Shaykh al-Maḥmūdī, before the latter had become sultan. When he became sultan, he promoted Qānī Bāy amir 10, then amir 40. Following the death of al-Malik al-Muʾayyad Shaykh, he was promoted amir 100 and was appointed as nāʾib al-ghayba in the Egyptian domains to al-Malik al-Muẓaffar ʾAḥmad, the son of Shaykh, when he traveled to Damascus with ʾatābak Ṭaṭar. Al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Ṭaṭar then seized him on his return from Damascus, and imprisoned him for some time. Al-Malik al-ʾAshraf Barsbāy then released him and appointed him ʾatābak of Damascus. Some years later, he summoned him to the Egyptian domains, and promoted him as amir 100 there. He was succeeded as ʾatābak of Damascus by amir Taghrī Birdī al-Maḥmūdī. Qānī Bāy remained in Cairo until al-ʾAshraf appointed him as nāʾib of Hama, following the transfer of amir Julbān to the office of nāʾib of Tripoli, after the death of ʾatābak Ṭarabāy in 37. Some time later, he was transferred to the office of nāʾib of Tripoli, succeeding amir Julbān, as the latter had been transferred to the office of nāʾib of Aleppo, following the rebellion of Taghrī Birmish in 842. He didn’t remain in that office for a long time, as he was transferred to the office of nāʾib of Aleppo, again following the transfer of Julbān to the office of nāʾib of Damascus, following the death of ʾatābak ʾĀqbughā al-Timrāzī in 843. He held the office of nāʾib of Aleppo until 848, as al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Jaqmaq summoned him to the Egyptian domains and removed him from office, replacing him by amir Qānī Bāy al-Bahlawān al-Nāṣirī. He favored him with an amirate 100 in the Egyptian domains, instead of Shāddibak al-Jakamī, who had been appointed as nāʾib of Hama, following the transfer of Qānī Bāy al-Bahlawān to the office of nāʾib of Aleppo. Qānī Bāy al-Ḥamzāwī thus became an Egyptian amir, until al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Jaqmaq reappointed him as nāʾib of Aleppo, following the removal of amir Tanam min ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Muʾayyadī and the latter’s arrival in Egypt (to take) the ʾiqṭāʿ of Qānī Bāy. He remained in that office until al-Malik al-ʾAshraf ʾĪnāl transferred him to the office of nāʾib of Damascus, following the death of amir Julbān in 860. He remained in that office until he died there, inwardly in revolt against the sultanate, but outwardly loyal. As for this Qānī Bāy, some strange things had happened, including the following. From the day he left Cairo to take up the office in Aleppo a second time during the reign of al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Jaqmaq, he had revolted against the sultan inwardly and had decided never to return to Cairo. When al-Ẓāhir died and his son, al-Manṣūr ʿUthmān, and then al-ʾAshraf ʾĪnāl became sultan, his position in Aleppo grew stronger, and his attitude became obvious to everybody. Yet, al-ʾAshraf ʾĪnāl did not remove the veil of pretended inattention to the matter between him and Qānī Bāy. Instead, both of them pretended ignorance of the other, the one giving the appearance of obedience and fulfilling marāsīm, without treading the sultan’s carpet or coming to Cairo, the other accepting this from him and saying, ‘He is entering into submission to me’; however, he never sent for him, but rather tried to put him off with subterfuges. In short, had Qānī Bāy wanted to come to Cairo, ʾĪnāl would not have enabled him to do so, as he knew that this would be a test. Hence, both of them began to watch for the death of the other, until then Qānī Bāy died first, and al-ʾAshraf ʾĪnāl appointed instead of him amir Jānim al-ʾAshrafī as nāʾib of Damascus.
Another strange thing that happened to him also was that Qānī Bāy did not hold any office of a city, be it Hama, Tripoli, Aleppo or Damascus, except succeeding herein amir Julbān, despite the length of Julbān’s administration of these Syrian offices, over 30 years!
This is something very strange indeed that Qānī Bāy was removed from the office of nāʾib of Aleppo and became an amir in Egypt for many years, the office of nāʾib of Aleppo being held after him by several people, and that he then returned to that same office and stayed there, until he was transferred to the office of nāʾib of Damascus, following the death of Julbān, just as, before this, he had been transferred after him in each city. This is a strange coincidence.