So Sayf al-Din al-Mashṭūb volunteered to answer him and said, “My lord, we are your mamluks and slaves. You are the one who has bestowed upon us, raised our standing, and honored us ⦗1⦘. We possess nothing but our necks, and we place them before you. By Allah, not one of us will retreat from supporting you ⦗2⦘ until he dies.”

The rest echoed his words; the Sultan rejoiced, his heart was put at ease, he ordered a lavish banquet to be spread for them, and they departed from his presence in that resolve.

Afterward the Sultan was informed that one of the emirs had said ⦗3⦘, “We fear that what befell the people of ⦗4⦘ Acre will befall us in this city, after which they will seize the lands of Islam town by town. It is in our interest to meet them outside the city: if we defeat them, we shall take the rest of their territory; and if the other outcome occurs, the army ⦗5⦘ will withdraw safely ⦗6⦘—they will take Jerusalem while we preserve ⦗7⦘ the remainder of the Muslim lands, Jerusalem excepted, for a long time ⦗8⦘.”

They then wrote ⦗9⦘ to the Sultan, saying, “If you wish us to remain in Jerusalem under Frankish ⦗10⦘ siege ⦗11⦘, then stay ⦗12⦘ with us yourself, or send one of your household, so that the army may be ⦗13⦘ under his command ⦗14⦘; for the Kurds will not obey ⦗15⦘ the Turks, nor the Turks the Kurds.”

When this reached him ⦗16⦘ it weighed on him heavily; he spent the entire night anxious and melancholy, pondering their words. At length the matter became clear, and it was agreed that al-Malik al-Amjad, lord of Baalbek, would remain with them in the Holy City as the Sultan’s deputy ⦗17⦘. That was on a Friday. When he attended the Friday prayer and the muʾadhdhin gave the call for ẓuhr, he rose, prayed two rakʿahs between the two adhāns, then prostrated and fervently implored Allah Most High, beseeching his Lord ⦗18⦘, humbling himself and asking ⦗19⦘—in the privacy between him and his Lord—that this grievous calamity be lifted.