The Sultan and the Muslims entered the city on Friday, shortly before the time of the prayer (1); it was the twenty-seventh of Rajab. ʿImād said: It is the very Night of the Isrāʾ, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was taken from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām to al-Masjid al-Aqṣā [and then to the highest heavens] (2).

Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Shāma (3) remarked: This (4) is one of the reported dates for the Isrāʾ, and Allah Most High knows best.

The Friday congregational prayer did not take place that day (5), contrary to those who claim it was held and that the Sultan himself delivered the sermon dressed in black. The reliable view is that it could not be performed then (6) because the time was too short; instead, it was held the following Friday, and the preacher was Qāḍī Muḥyī al-Dīn (7) Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Qurashī ibn al-Zakī, as will be mentioned shortly.

Nevertheless, al-Masjid al-Aqṣā was cleansed (8) that very day of the crosses, monks, and swine; the dwellings of the Templars (9)—which they had built (10) to the west of the great mihrab—were demolished, and they had made the mihrab a latrine (11)—may Allah Almighty curse them (12). Thus the mosque was purged of all that. It was restored to the state it had enjoyed in the days (13) of Islam and the Muhammadan polity: the Rock was washed with pure water and washed again with rosewater and fine musk (14); it was brought forth for all to behold—for it had been submerged, covered, and hidden (15) from visitors—and the cross was removed from its dome.