has granted—namely the conquest and victory over those rabble—is among the most momentous (1) favors that Allah has bestowed upon the Sultan and the people of Islam.

For these people and their ilk are among the greatest corrupters of both worldly and religious affairs. Their creed is that Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, the warriors of Badr, the pledgers at Ridwan, the vast majority of the Emigrants and Helpers, those who followed them with excellence, the imams of Islam and its scholars—whether of the four legal schools or others—the shaykhs and devoted worshippers, the Muslim kings and their armies, and the common Muslims down to the last individual, are all unbelieving apostates, more disbelieving than Jews or Christians. They say this because, in their view, an apostate is worse than one who was originally outside the faith. For that reason they prefer the Franks and the Tatars to the people of the Quran and of true faith.

Thus, when the Tatars entered these lands they inflicted (2) upon the Muslim army depredations beyond reckoning. They reached out to the people of Cyprus (3), seized part of the coastline, hoisted the banner of the cross, and shipped to Cyprus numbers known only to Allah of Muslim horses, weapons, and captives. They kept a market open on the shore for twenty days, selling Muslims, horses, and arms to the Cypriots. They and the rest of the adherents of this accursed sect—such as the people of Jizzin (4) and the surrounding areas and the mountain—rejoiced at the Tatars’ arrival,