al-Afdal together with the vizier whose mismanagement had brought the calamity upon him. Al-ʿAzīz then performed the prayer at the mausoleum of his father, Saladin (1), and the Friday sermon in Damascus was proclaimed in his name. On that very day he entered the Victorious Citadel (2) (3), took his seat in the Dār al-ʿAdl to hear cases and render judgment, while throughout all this his brother al-Afdal stood before him in service (4). He instructed the judge Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-Zakī (5) to found the al-ʿAzīziyya madrasah (6) (7) beside his father’s tomb, a building that had formerly been the residence (8) of the amir ʿIzz al-Dīn Sāmah (9). Thereafter he appointed his uncle al-Malik al-ʿĀdil as his deputy over Damascus and returned to Egypt (10) on Monday, the 9th of Shawwāl, while the mint and the khutbah in Damascus remained in his name. He concluded a settlement with al-Afdal granting him Ṣarkhad, whereas al-Afdal’s minister Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī fled to his island, having ruined himself, his master and his realm through his own offence (11). Al-Afdal moved to Ṣarkhad together with his household, his children, and his brother Quṭb al-Dīn.
In the same year a violent, pitch-black wind (12) swept across the land of Iraq, bearing red sand so thick that people needed to light lamps (13) in the daytime.
Also that year Qiwām al-Dīn Abū Ṭālib Yaḥyā ibn Saʿd ibn Zubādah (14) was appointed to the chancery (15) in Baghdad. He was a man of ability, though not on a par with al-Fāḍil (16).
(1) In manuscript B: “al-Malik al-Nasir”; in edition T: “Salah.”
(2) Edition T reads: “wa dakhal” (“and he entered”).
(3) Edition T adds “yawm” (“day”); this word is absent in manuscript B.
(4) Manuscript B reads: “fakul” (“so all”).
(5) Its translation will appear under the events of 598 in this volume.
(6) Munadamat al-Atlal, p. 183.
(7) Absent in manuscript B.
(8) Absent in manuscript B.
(9) Ibn al-Athir names him Usama and reports that the commander ‘Izz al-Din Usama—one of al-Adil’s emirs with extensive iqta‘at in Jordan and Syria—was summoned by al-Afdhal in 597 to aid against his uncle al-Adil; he pledged allegiance, then informed al-Adil in Egypt. Al-Adil dispatched forces to Salkhad and Damascus, reconciled with his nephews, and ultimately arrested ‘Izz al-Din in 609 (Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, vol. 9: 251–252, 307). Bashar notes the correct spelling is “Sama‘a” with a simple sin, as in al-Rawdatayn (10) and Tarikh al-Islam (12/932).
(10) Edition T reads: “wa nashamara ila al-diyar al-Misriyya” (“and he marched toward the Egyptian territories”).
(11) Manuscripts A and B read: “bi jaziratih” (“on his island”).
(12) Found only in edition T.
(13) Manuscript B reads: “ila ish‘āl al-aḍwā’” (“to the lighting of the lamps”).
(14) Its translation will appear under the events of 594 in this volume. Bashar observes that edition T and many printed sources spell “ziyāda” with a final yā’, but it should be “ziyādat” with a simple bā’, as noted in al-Dhahabi’s al-Mushtabah (343) and al-Mundhiri’s Al-Takmila (1/315), which describes the correct spelling as zā’ with fatḥa, bā’ with fatḥa, alif, dāl majhūla, and feminine tā’.
(15) Edition T reads: “kitab” (“book”).
(16) Manuscripts A and T read: “wa kana balighan wa laysa huwa ka al-fadil” (“and he was eloquent, unlike al-Fadil”).