their first defeat, and the Muslims plundered from them spoils equal to—or greater than—what has already been mentioned (1). The sultan seized many of their strongholds (2) and fortresses; to Allah belong all praise and bounty.

People even said that a prisoner was sold (3) for a single dirham, a horse for five dirhams, a tent for one dirham, and a sword for less than that. The sultan (4) then distributed these spoils in the manner prescribed by the Sacred Law, and the warriors in the path of Allah became wealthy for life. After that, the Franks asked the sultan (5) for safe-conduct, and he concluded with them a truce that suspended hostilities for five years.

What moved him to accept was the rise of a man named ʿAlī ibn Isḥāq al-Miyūrqī (6)—known (7) as al-Mulaththam, “the Veiled One” (8)—who had appeared in the lands of Ifriqiya. During the sultan’s three-year absence while he was preoccupied with fighting the Franks, this Majorcan renegade committed monstrous deeds in the desert: he spread corruption through the land, slew great numbers of people, and seized territories.

In this year and the one before it, the caliph’s army captured (9) large parts of Rayy, Isfahan, Hamadhan (10), Khuzistan, and other regions; thus the caliphate’s position (11) over kings and realms (12) grew stronger.

In the same year, al-ʿAzīz left Egypt for Damascus, intending to wrest it from the hand of his brother al-Afḍal. Al-Afḍal, however, had repented, turned back to Allah, and abandoned the drinking, diversion, and play in which he had been engrossed; he devoted himself to fasting and prayer (13), began copying a Qur’an in his own hand, and his conduct improved. Nevertheless, his vizier al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Jazarī (14) was undermining his rule and clouding his serenity. When news reached al-Afḍal of his brother’s advance, he hurried to his uncle al-ʿĀdil, who was at Jaʿbar, and sought his aid. Al-ʿĀdil set out with him and even outpaced him to