—namely, the Sultan of the Almohad forces, Ya‘qūb ibn Yūsuf ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min (1)—was imploring him (2) to dispatch ships that could assist him at sea against the Frankish vessels (3). He couched his request in a lengthy petition, polished, eloquent, and graceful (4), which Shihāb al-Dīn (5) has reproduced in full with all its beauty. Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn likewise sent, along with the letter, a noble gift of choice presents and tokens of courtesy (6). All this was entrusted to the great amir Shams al-Dīn Abū l-Ḥazm ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Munqidh. The fleet set sail (7) on the eighth of Dhu l-Qa‘dah of that year; it reached Sultan Ya‘qūb (8) on the twentieth of Dhu l-Ḥijjah, and the envoy remained with him until ‘Āshūrā’ of Muḥarram in the year 588 AH. Yet the mission yielded no benefit (9), for the sultan (10) was angered at not being addressed as “Commander of the Believers.” Al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil had advised against sending to him or placing reliance upon him, but what came to pass occurred by the will of Allah, exalted is He.

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In this same year (11) al-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ (12) al-Dīn suffered a disorder of health, brought on by the multitude of affairs he was bearing—affairs more bitter than brine. The defeated enemy—may Allah curse them—coveted the domain of Islam: a party of them sallied forth to fight, while others maintained the siege. They advanced with great numbers and equipment, so the Sultan arrayed the armies into right wing, left wing (13), center, and two flanks. But when they beheld the vast host before them, they fled the battlefield and veered away from the arena of war; many—indeed a great multitude—were slain, and all praise belongs to Allah (14).