he was given a poisoned drink, and yet another report maintains that he sucked on one of his rings which had been laced with poison.

The aforesaid proclamation was issued on the first Friday of Muḥarram. Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn then took possession of the palace with all the jewels and wealth it contained; he also arrested al-ʿĀḍid’s children and household, confined them in one of the palace chambers, dispersed their pages and supporters, and effaced every trace of them (1).

Al-ʿImād al-Kātib (2) says: “They are now hemmed in and destitute, hidden from sight; their numbers have dwindled and contracted. Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn chose from the stored treasures whatever he pleased, then allowed the remainder to be sold, and the selling went on for ten full years” (3).

In a letter composed by al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil (4) to Baghdad he wrote: “Victories have followed one another—westward, in Yemen, and in Syria (5); the lands—indeed the whole world, even time itself—have become an inviolate sanctuary. The faith, once divided into many creeds, has become one; when the caliphate is mentioned, its people do not fall upon it deaf and blind. Innovation is humbled, the Friday congregation is unified, and humiliation is widespread among the sects of misguidance.

That is because they took servants of Allah as protectors instead of Him, styled the enemies of Allah as His chosen friends, split their own affair into factions, and shattered the unity of the ummah after it had been one. Their last remnant has been cut off, and their noses have been rubbed in the dust.”