his son, al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, was proclaimed king (1). He was still a minor, and the amir Shams al-Dīn ibn al-Muqaddam was appointed as his atabeg (guardian) (2)(3). The emirs fell into rivalry, judgments became confused, wickedness surfaced, and wine became plentiful—drink that had not existed during Nūr al-Dīn’s lifetime, when no one had dared touch it. Lewd conduct spread openly (4). Even his nephew, Sayf al-Dīn Ghāzī ibn Mawdūd (5), lord of Mosul, once he was certain of his uncle’s death (6)—from whose authority he had been strictly barred (7)—sent a crier through the city granting license for games, amusement, drinking, intoxicants, and music. The crier paraded with a tambourine (8), a goblet, and a flute. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return! [This same nephew, along with the other kings and amirs over whom Nūr al-Dīn had ruled, had never been able to commit any evil or obscenity while he lived; but after his death their affairs went awry and they sowed corruption in the land] (9).

At that moment the poet’s verse was fulfilled:

(Metre: al-Ṭawīl)
“Bring me wine and tell me plainly, ‘It is wine!’
Do not serve me in secret now that open drinking is allowed.”

Enemies on every side began to covet the Muslims’ territories. The Franks resolved to march on Damascus and wrest it from Muslim hands. Ibn al-Muqaddam, the atabeg, rode out against them and engaged them (10) near Baniyas, but he proved too weak to withstand them there. He therefore negotiated a truce, paying them large sums of money (11) immediately; had he not frightened them with the prospect of King Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn’s (12) arrival, they would not have accepted the truce.

When news of this reached the sultan, al-Malik al-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn ibn Ayyūb, ruler of Egypt, he wrote to the emirs—especially to Ibn al-Muqaddam—reproaching them for making peace and for handing over money to the Franks, who were fewer and more abject. He informed them that he intended to come to the region in person to protect it (13) from the Franks. They replied with a letter containing harsh words and