by al-Afḍal (1) ibn Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, lord of Sumaysat (2); but al-Malik al-Ashraf (3) Mūsā ibn al-ʿĀdil met him in battle, subdued the king of the Rūm, smashed his army, and drove him back in defeat.

That same year al-Ashraf also seized the city of Sinjar, adding it to the dominions already in his hands.

In that year as well the sultan al-Malik al-ʿĀdil (4) Abū Bakr ibn Ayyūb died, and the Franks (5) [may Allah curse them] took the frontier port (6) of Damietta. [It has already been mentioned that when the Franks tried to surprise him (7), he had come from Egypt to Bayt Shān; he withdrew from them and encamped at Marj al-Ṣufr, sending orders to the armies of al-Jazīra and elsewhere to advance to him so that he might confront the Franks after the expiration of the truce. The Franks embarked from the coasts near Acre, and, as Allah willed, were joined by additional naval forces.] (8)

They headed for Egypt by way of the Damietta shore, [landing there] and besieged it for four months (9), while al-Malik (10) al-Kāmil faced them [fighting, resisting, and thwarting their designs]. They nevertheless captured (11) the Chain Tower, which is like a lock upon the land of Egypt. The tower stands on an island in mid-Nile where the river meets the sea; [from this tower] to Damietta there runs (12) along the seacoast and the Nile bank a chain stretched to the opposite side. Upon it is a bridge and yet another chain that prevents vessels from entering the Nile from the sea, making passage impossible.

When the Franks seized this tower, the Muslims [in Egypt and beyond] were deeply distressed. As soon as the news reached al-Malik al-ʿĀdil at Marj al-Ṣufr, he sighed profoundly, striking his chest in grief and sorrow for the Muslims and their lands, and from that very hour he was seized by the illness of death—for a reason