against Sultan Salah al-Din; yet Allah—exalted is He, and to Him belong all praise—granted him victory, and the armies advanced upon the foe in their entirety (1). They killed great numbers of the unbelievers, an immense multitude. On one occasion the Franks burst suddenly into the Sultan’s camp and carried off a large quantity (2) of equipment. Al-Malik al-ʿĀdil Abu Bakr—commander of the right flank—rode out with his men (3)(4), allowed the Franks to press deep among the tents, and then charged them with lance and sword. They fled (5) before him (6), and he went on striking them down, group after group and company after company, until the earth was mantled with their corpses, a covering more radiant than laughing gardens and more delightful to the eye than a soft-skinned maiden (7)(8)(9). Estimates of their dead began at no fewer than five thousand (10), while al-ʿImād and others claimed that between noon and mid-afternoon he slew ten thousand of them—and to Allah belong all praise (11).

Meanwhile the left wing knew nothing of what had transpired; many of them were asleep in their tents during the midday siesta (12) and remained wholly unaware. Those who pursued and shattered the enemy numbered fewer than one thousand, and only ten Muslims—or fewer—were killed. This is a tremendous blessing and a sweeping victory. The blow weakened the Frankish host (13) so severely that they were on the verge of suing for peace and abandoning the city.

At that moment, however, a great reinforcement reached them by sea, led by a king called Kundahri (14)—may Allah curse him—bringing with him vast sums of money, which he lavished upon the Franks (15). He pressed them (16) and ordered them to march out with him to confront Sultan Salah al-Din, and he pitched his camp before Acre.