Shaykh Abū Shāmah reproduces this whole section in full in his book al-Rawḍatayn ⦗1⦘, and he records the verses that the poets ⦗2⦘ composed ⦗3⦘ about it.

In the same year, Sultan Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad, after the reign of his maternal uncle Sanjar, gained possession of all his domains.

That year as well, Sultan Maḥmūd ibn Zankī captured the fortress of Shayzar after a hard siege and seized the city of Baalbek, where al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Biqaʿī had been. Some say this took place in the year fifty, as mentioned earlier; and Allah ⦗4⦘ knows best. The matter has already been noted above.

During the same year Nūr al-Dīn fell ill, and all of Syria fell ill on account of his illness ⦗5⦘. When he recovered ⦗6⦘ the Muslims rejoiced greatly ⦗7⦘. Meanwhile his brother Qutb al-Dīn Mawdūd, lord of Mosul, took control of Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar.

That year the caliph had a new door fashioned for the Kaʿbah and plated it with gold; he removed its original door and turned it into a casket for himself.

Also that year the Ismāʿīlīs attacked the pilgrims from Khurāsān and left not a single soul alive—neither ascetic nor scholar ⦗8⦘.

A severe famine likewise struck Khurāsān: people were reduced to eating insects, and one man ⦗9⦘ slaughtered an ʿAlawī, cooked him, and sold the meat in the marketplace; when the deed came to light, he was executed.

Abū Shāmah further relates ⦗10⦘ that the conquest of Bāniyās occurred in this same year at the hands ⦗11⦘ of King Nūr al-Dīn himself. Muʿīn al-Dīn had earlier sent him to the Franks to negotiate a truce over Damascus when they besieged it; Nūr al-Dīn killed their king al-Hunfrī ⦗12⦘ and captured great spoils ⦗13⦘. And to Allah belong all praise ⦗14⦘ and bounty.