Every maiden, supple as a swaying bough and clad in brocaded raiment,
fastens her collar about a face that rivals the full moon.
Her cheeks are gardens from which anemones are plucked,
and her teeth are like blossoms strewn in shining rows.

He died at the beginning of Ramadan of this very year, at the age of seventy-eight—may Allah have mercy on him—and was buried in the Sufi cemetery.

Amir Bahāʾ al-Dīn Qarāqūsh (1), nicknamed the “stallion-eunuch,” was one of the foremost (2) emirs (3) of the Ṣalāḥid state. Gallant, brave, and formidable, he assumed command of the palace when al-ʿĀḍid died. He rebuilt Cairo’s wall, surrounding all of Egypt with it until it reached the Maqsam, the spot where the Companions once divided the spoils (4) of the Egyptian lands. He also constructed the Citadel of the Mountain. Moreover (5), Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn placed him in charge of Acre so that he might build many structures there, but the siege began while he was still inside the city. When [al-Badal withdrew from it, he too was among those who left, until the city was entered by] (6) Ibn al-Mashṭūb.

It is reported that he was captured and ransomed himself for ten thousand dinars; [he afterward returned while the sultan] (7) Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn was still alive, who rejoiced greatly at his return. When he died in this same year, Sultan al-ʿĀdil placed his estate under sequestration, and his properties and fiefs (8) passed to King al-Kāmil Muḥammad ibn al-ʿĀdil.

Qāḍī Ibn Khallikān (9) said: “Remarkable legal rulings have been attributed to him, to the point that someone (10) composed a small tract entitled ‘The Book of al-Fāshūsh on the Judgments of Qarāqūsh,’ in which he recorded a great many such decisions (11). I think they were fabricated against him, for Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn relied upon him, [and he would never have done so had the man been] (12) [of that] character. Allah knows best.”

Makallaba ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Mustanjidī (13):