Ibn al-Jawzī (1) relates: “In the year 568 AH I preached on the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ in the Mansūr Mosque; the gathering was estimated at one hundred thousand. That same day al-Mustaḍīʾ’s brothers were circumcised: one thousand sheep were slaughtered and twenty thousand khushkanānkas (dry pastries) were prepared.

In that year the Egyptian army besieged Tripoli in the Maghrib and took it.

Shams al-Dawlah, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn’s brother, captured Barqah and then Yemen, seizing Ibn Mahdī the Black, a man of corrupt creed.

Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn himself marched on al-Karak, encamped before it, and then withdrew because of its strong defences.

That same year Maliyḥ ibn Lawon, the Armenian of Sīs, routed the troops of the Byzantine emperor. He was on excellent terms with Nūr al-Dīn, served him zealously, and fought the Franks at his side. When Nūr al-Dīn was reproached for granting him Sīs, he replied, “I make use of him in fighting the people of his own confession; he spares a detachment of my army, and he stands as a barrier between me and the ruler of Constantinople.”

I add: Maliyḥ also defeated the forces of Constantinople itself.

During the same year Nūr al-Dīn advanced to Mosul, then seized Bahasnā and Marʿash. Qilij Arslān sent envoys seeking his friendship and submitting to him.

In the year 569 AH hailstones the size of bitter oranges fell on the Sawād; one piece weighed seven pounds, according to Ibn al-Jawzī (2).

He likewise records (3): “The Tigris rose higher than on any previous occasion in Baghdad by a cubit and a fraction. The people went out to the open plain and wept—it was a manifest sign—and the flooding lasted for several days.”