The historical figure of Malik ibn Abu al-Ghayth (or ibn Balghayth), muqaddam (local chieftain) of ‘Aqura in Mount Lebanon, remains shrouded in mystery. Among the many questions pending are the era in which he lived, and his affiliation to either the qaysi or the yamani party.
Patriarch Estephan al-Douayhi, in his Tarikh al-Azminah (page 421 of the edition of Butrus Fahd) wrote under the events of the year 1556 that “Malik son of Balghayth al-Yamani the shaykh of al-‘Aqura held tremendous sway […], and he raided Jubbat al-Munaytra and burned it in two phases, after which the people of al-Jubbah entered in a deal with the Qaysi inhabitants of al-‘Aqura against Malik, ambushing him in ‘Ayn al-Jurd and killing him.”
The priest Yusuf al-Dahdah of al-‘Aqura (1602-1677) wrote about a century later on the margins of a prayer book that “Malik son of Abi al-Ghayth al-Yamani led his ‘Aquri men to meet the Ottoman Sultan Salim I in the year 1515 in the country of Ba’lbak (bilad Ba’albak), and that the Sultan gave him numerous presents”.
On the other hand, Tannus al-Shidyaq, in his Kitab Akhbar al-A’yaan fi Jabal Lubnan, mentioned that “in the year 1700, Malik Abu al-Ghayth al-Qaysi al-Maruni, shaykh of al-‘Aqura, died without issue, and his daughter, the wife of shaykh Yusuf son of the priest Jirjis al-Dahdah, inherited him.”
Were there more than just one Malik Abu al-Ghayth (or Balghayth) Maronite shaykhs of al-‘Aqura, one Qaysi and one Yamani, who lived a century and a half apart?
Maronitica 