with Allah. This took place in Dhu al-Hijjah of that very year, and the commander of the troops entering Acre was Emir Sayf al-Din ʿAli ibn Ahmad ibn al-Mashṭūb (1).

On the seventh of Dhu al-Hijjah a huge breach opened in Acre’s wall. The Franks hurried toward it, but the Muslims reached it first, blocking the gap with their own chests and defending it (2) with their throats. They continued to hold the enemy off until they rebuilt that section stronger, firmer, lovelier, and more imposing than before.

During this same year a severe plague struck both armies (3), Muslim and infidel alike, and concerning it the Sultan would say (4):

Slay me together with Mālik—
and slay Mālik along with me.

Coincidentally, the son of the German king—may Allah curse him—died on the second of Dhu al-Hijjah [of this very year] (5), together with a number of the Kundahriyya grandees and the leading Frankish nobles—may Allah curse them all. The Franks mourned the German prince bitterly, kindling a great fire in every tent. Each day one hundred, even two hundred, of them perished. Pressed by hunger (6), hardship, and the siege, a group of them sought the Sultan’s protection, and many embraced Islam—praise and gratitude belong to Allah.

[In that same month] (7) al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil [from Egypt] (8) arrived before the Sultan. Each had long yearned for the other’s company, and each disclosed to his companion (9) the confidential plans he had been concealing—plans aimed at advancing the welfare of the Muslims. The Vizier of Integrity likewise presented himself to the victorious Sultan and the aided Emir—may Allah, exalted is He, have mercy upon them both.