among whom was his sister Sitt al-Sham (1) and her son Ḥusām al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Lājīn (2), so that they might be kept safe from the outrage of the prince (3) of al-Karak—the traitor who broke the pact and sank into wickedness (4).

When the pilgrims had passed by (5) toward the end of Ṣafar (6), the sultan marched out, halted at al-Karak (7), cut down the surrounding trees, let the horses graze on the crops (8), and ate its fruit.

The Egyptian troops then reached him (9), and the Eastern armies converged (10) with their slender lances and glittering swords. They encamped with the sultan’s son at Raʾs al-Māʾ.

Al-Afḍal sent a detachment toward Frankish territory: they killed and plundered, returned unharmed after smashing the foe, captured prisoners, and came back. Their report (11) announced the first harbingers of conquest and victory.

The sultan himself arrived with his main divisions (12); every army, nomad and town-dweller alike, gathered around him. He arrayed the forces and corps and set out for the coastal regions. The fighting men with him numbered twelve thousand, not counting the volunteers. When the Franks heard of his approach (13), they all assembled, made peace among themselves, and were joined by the perfidious count of Tripoli and the profligate prince of al-Karak. They came, high and low alike (14), every last one of them.

They also brought with them the “Cross of the Crucifixion,” borne by their idol worshippers, the misguided devotees of human and divine natures (15), in numbers known to none (16) but Allah—exalted is He— (17).

It is said that they were fifty thousand strong.