and slaughtered him—may he be cursed. The Ismāʿīlī malāhida then handed Banias over to the Franks and were utterly humbled.
It was also said that al-Muzdaqānī had been corresponding with the Franks, offering to surrender Damascus to them in return for their giving him Ṣūr, and that they were to storm the city on a Friday while he ordered the malāhida to lock the doors of the congregational mosque on the worshippers. For this treachery Taj al-Mulūk—may Allah have mercy on him—slew him, then engaged the Franks, routed them, and the encounter was one long remembered.⦗1⦘
In that same year twenty, the Franks mustered to seize Damascus and camped at Shaqhab.⦗2⦘ Tughtigin assembled the Turkmans⦗3⦘ and the desperadoes of Damascus, met the enemy at the close of the year, and the fighting grew fierce. Tughtigin and his cavalry then fled in weakness, whereupon the infantry wheeled round upon the enemy’s tents, killed many Franks, and seized their wealth and spoils. The Franks were thus routed, and victory descended.
303 – Ibn al-Faʿūs, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Mubārak ibn ʿAlī
The jurist, ascetic, devoted worshipper, and exemplar: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Mubārak ibn ʿAlī.
(1) Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, vol. 10, pp. 657-658; the manuscript there reads “al-Muzdaqani.”
(2) Shaqhab: a village about twenty-five miles south-west of Damascus. In 702/1303 the famous battle of Shaqhab took place there between the Tatars (Mongols) and the people of Syria. God fulfilled His promise, strengthened His troops, routed the Tatars by Himself, granted victory to the believers, and cut off the oppressors—praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din (Ibn Taymiyya) was present, urging the Muslims to stand firm, encouraging them to fight, promising booty and one of the two noble outcomes, and he himself fought the Tatars with the courage and endurance of heroes.
(3) The original text erroneously reads al-tarakumin; the correct form is al-turkumaniyyin (Turkomans).
(*) Principal sources: Mashyakhat Ibn Asakir, p. 354; Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, vol. 10, p. 7; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, vol. 10, p. 648; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 4:248/2; al-Dhahabi, al-Ibr, vol. 4, p. 50; Ibn al-Shihna, Uyoun al-tawarikh, 13:479; Ibn Rajab, Dhayl tabaqat al-hanabila, 1:173-176; Ibn Taghri Birdi, al-Nujum al-zahira, vol. 5, p. 233; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharāt al-dhahab, vol. 4, p. 64.