At a glance
- Roles
- scribe · mystic
- Era
- The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
- Region
- Egypt & Nile
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
Christian (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Summary
Bulus al-Habis, the monk-katib; he dwelt in a cave on Mount Helwan near Cairo — it was said he chanced upon al-Hakim's treasure and shared it with the poor and respectable of every community, till his fame spread; he answered the confiscators for a vast sum, six hundred thousand dinars, apart from what he gave the poor. 2
His interrogation
The sultan summoned him, treated him kindly and asked for the money; he fenced and evaded, and when he wearied the sultan he was pressed and tortured until he died — confessing nothing. He was carried dead from the citadel and cast at the Qarafa gate; he had eaten nothing of that money nor worn it, and nothing of it appeared in his estate. 2
Connections
- Died in
- Cairo
People and things also explored
Al-Azhar Mosque· The Dar al-Hikma of Cairo· Baybars takes the sultanate, 658 AH· Capture of Cairo· death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place· The great earthquake of Egypt, 608 AH· Egypt's famine and epidemic, 695· Four madhhab qadis appointed in Egypt, 663
Sources
- Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 561
- Wafayat al-A'yan wa-Anba' Abna' al-Zaman — Ibn Khallikan
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Bulus the monk, al-Habis”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/bulos-al-habis/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.