Najm al-Dīn ibn Sanī al-Dawlah reports that Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn al-Ẓāhir—the brother of al-Mustanṣir—arrived among them. The people were assembled for him, his lineage was formally authenticated before the Chief Judge, and the sultan was the first to pledge allegiance, followed by the leading figures in order of rank. His name was struck on the coinage and he was given his brother’s honorific title.

Quṭb al-Dīn al-Baʿlī (1) says: In Shaʿbān the caliph ordered that a khilʿah (robe of investiture) be prepared for the sultan together with a diploma of appointment. A pavilion was pitched outside Cairo, and on the fourth of Shaʿbān al-Mustanṣir and al-Ẓāhir rode out to it in the company of the judges, the amirs, and the vizier. The caliph himself clothed the sultan in the robe, placed the collar upon him, and girded him with the belt.

A pulpit was then set up, and Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Luqmān, the chief secretary, mounted it and read aloud the decree he had composed. The sultan, wearing the robe, mounted and entered the city through Bab al-Naṣr; Cairo was festooned with decorations, while the official bearing the diploma carried it aloft upon his head as he rode, the amirs proceeding on foot.

I say: Al-Mustanṣir then resolved—at the sultan’s suggestion and with his support—to set out for Baghdad. Ibn ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir records in The Life of al-Malik al-Ẓāhir that the sultan said to him, “I have spent on the caliph and the princes of Mosul one million six hundred thousand dinars.”

Quṭb al-Dīn al-Baʿlī (2) adds: Thereafter he and the sultan departed Egypt on the nineteenth of Ramadan, entering Damascus on the seventh of Dhu al-Qaʿdah. A few days later the caliph continued on his way, accompanied by the ruler of Mosul and the ruler of Sinjar.

Abū Shāmah (3) relates: The caliph lodged at the Nāsirī mausoleum, and on Friday he entered