He remained closely attached to the service of his brother Saladin, and went on maneuvering until al-ʿAzīz granted him Damascus. That gift became the very means by which he gained mastery over the land. When Ibn Abī ʼl-Ḥajjāj brought him the decree of appointment, he rewarded him with 1,000 dinars. Thereafter events too numerous to detail unfolded, along with fighting for the throne—effort and warfare which, had they been waged as jihad against the Franks, would have borne fruit.

His son al-Awhad took possession of Khilāṭ and slew great numbers of its troops. Al-Muwaffaq relates: One of his intimates told me that in the space of a certain period he killed 18,000 members of the elite, murdering them by night and throwing their bodies into wells. He was not spared long; his reason became deranged and he died. His father had sent to him under solemn oath, thinking he had lost his wits; after his death al-Ashraf assumed power … until he (the narrator) said:

Al-ʿĀdil turned back, the lances of the Franks pressing hard behind him, until he reached Damascus—yet he did not enter it—and al-Muʿtamid encouraged him. The Franks, for their part, supposed his retreat a stratagem, so they withdrew after laying waste to the countryside and made for Damietta (1). It was also said that weakness and trembling overtook him, and that a swelling of the testicles (2) afflicted him, whereupon he died outside Damascus.

His treasury had been kept at Jaʿbar, where his son al-Ḥāfiẓ was stationed; later he moved it to Damascus, and it fell into the hands of his son al-Muʿaẓẓam. That son had already deceived and encouraged his brother to rebel, which he did; so their father hastened to transfer the funds.

Al-ʿĀdil transmitted the seventh fascicle of the Maḥāmiliyyāt from al-Silafī. Narrating it from him were his son al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, al-Shihāb al-Qūṣī, and Abū Bakr ibn al-Nushabī. He died while his treasury still contained 700,000 dinars in ready coin.

He passed away at ʿĀlāqīn in Jumādā al-Ākhira, 615 AH, and was buried