upon Nur al-Din (1), son of Qara Arslan, lord of Hisn Kayfa (2), Khartabirt (3), and Amida, which the sultan had previously granted to him.
In that same year his cousin—the ruler of Mardin, Mayyafariqin, and the surrounding districts—Qutb al-Din Ilghazi ibn Albi ibn Timurtash ibn Ilghazi ibn Artuq, passed away. His son, then twenty years of age, succeeded him to the throne.
That year also saw the death of the sovereign of the Maghrib, Yusuf (4) ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min ibn ‘Ali, whereupon his son Ya‘qub came to power.
Toward the end of the year (5) word reached the sultan (6), Ṣalāḥ al-Din, that the ruler of Mosul was besieging Irbil (7). Its lord therefore sent an urgent appeal to the sultan (8). Saladin mounted without delay at the head of his troops, advanced to Baalbek, then to Homs, and from there to Hama, where he stayed for several days awaiting the arrival of al-‘Imad the secretary. The latter had been taken by a spell of weakness and remained in Baalbek until he recovered (9). Al-Qadi al-Fadil had meanwhile dispatched to him from Damascus a physician (10) named As‘ad (11) ibn Ilyas al-Matran, who treated him with a remedy (12) drawn from ṭibb liman ḥabb (13)—medicine reserved for the beloved.
(1) In the printed edition: “Nāṣir al-Dīn,” which is a scribal error. It refers to Muḥammad ibn Qarā Arslān ibn Dāwūd, known as Nūr al-Dīn, lord of the fortress of Kayfa and other towns in Diyar Bakr. He married the daughter of Kilij Arslān but neglected her, prompting her father to wage war against him; Saladin reconciled them. He died in 581 AH. (Ibn al-Athīr 9:150,151,157,161,165,169; al-Rawḍatayn 2:63; Abū al-Fidā’ 3:69)
(2) Kayfa fortress—also called Kayba: a large town and citadel overlooking the Tigris, between Amida and Jazīrat ibn ʿUmar in Diyar Bakr. (Muʿjam al-Buldan)
(3) “Khartabirt,” also known as the Fortress of Ziyād, lies in the farthest part of Diyar Bakr in Byzantine (Rūm) territory, two days’ journey from Malatya, with the Euphrates between them. (Muʿjam al-Buldan)
(4) From this phrase to the end of the line is absent in manuscript A. The biography of Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin appears in Ibn al-Athīr (9:165), al-Rawḍatayn (2:60), Abū al-Fidā’ (3:67), al-Wafayāt al-A‘yān (7:130–138), al-ʿIbar (4:239–240, Beirut ed. 3:79–80), and Mirʾāt al-Jinān (3:417).
(5) In the printed edition: “wa fī awākhirihā” (“and at its end”).
(6) Absent in the printed edition.
(7) “Arbil”: a major city and fortified citadel east of Mosul (Muʿjam al-Buldan: “Arbīl”; al-Wafayāt al-A‘yān 1:187). Today it is a governorate of Iraq called Erbil, located north of Kirkuk, west of Sulaymaniyah, and east of Mosul.
(8) In the printed edition: “bihi” (“in it”).
(9) The preposition “ʿan” appears alone only in manuscript A.
(10) In manuscript A: “hakīman.”
(11) His biography will be provided under the events of 587 AH in this volume.
(12) In manuscript B and the printed edition: “mudāwāh” (treatment).
(13) In the margin of manuscript A: a twenty-line blank space reserved for the obituary notices in the original copy.