to Damascus. Al-Afḍal also went to his brother al-Zāhir in Aleppo, and the two of them marched together toward Damascus. When the vizier heard of this, and he had already drawn near to the city, he wheeled back(1) in all haste(2) to Egypt. Al-ʿĀdil and al-Afḍal mounted in pursuit of him, intending to wrest Egypt from him(3). They agreed that one-third of the Egyptian realm would belong to al-ʿĀdil and two-thirds to al-Afḍal. Later, however, al-ʿĀdil changed his mind: he sent word to al-ʿAzīz to reassure him, while he himself turned to al-Afḍal and discouraged him. They remained at Bilbays for several days until the Qāḍī al-Fāḍil came out to them on behalf of al-ʿAzīz; a settlement was concluded between them(4) whereby Jerusalem and its revenues would be restored to al-Afḍal, and al-ʿĀdil would stay on in Egypt with his former iqṭāʿ(5). Al-ʿĀdil therefore remained there, coveting the country, while al-Afḍal returned(6) to Damascus(7) after al-ʿAzīz himself had come out to bid him farewell. It was a truce with grit in the eye(8), a peace veiled in smoke.

In the same year, among the notable deaths(9):

ʿAlī ibn Ḥassān ibn Musāfir(10), Abū al-Ḥasan al-Kātib al-Baghdādī(11). He was a refined man of letters and a poet; among his verses(12) are:

[rajaz metre]
My sleep was driven away and gone—
a lightning flash on Salʿ flared and was gone.