—for a reason Allah—may He be exalted—willed. On Friday, the seventh of Jumada al-Akhira, he died in the village of ʿĀliqīn ⦗1⦘. His son al-Muʿaẓẓam hastened to him ⦗2⦘, gathered his possessions, and had him carried in a litter, accompanied by a servant and under the pretense ⦗3⦘ that the Sultan was ill. Whenever one of the emirs came to inquire after him, the eunuch informed them on his behalf that he was too weak to reply ⦗4⦘. When the body reached the Citadel it was buried there for a time, after which it was transferred to his tomb in the great al-ʿĀdiliyya madrasa ⦗5⦘.
King Sayf al-Din Abū Bakr ibn Ayyūb ibn Shādhī was among the finest of sovereigns—exemplary in conduct and pure of heart; devout, intelligent, patient, and dignified. He abolished illicit practices, wine, and musical instruments ⦗6⦘ throughout his entire dominion ⦗7⦘, which stretched from the furthest reaches of Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and al-Jazīra all the way to Hamadhan. He inherited this realm after his brother Ṣalāḥ al-Din, except for Aleppo, which he left in the hands of his nephew al-Ẓāhir Ghāzī [ibn Ṣalāḥ al-Din, for he was] ⦗8⦘ the husband of his daughter Ṣafiyya al-Sitt Khātūn.
Al-ʿĀdil was clement, forgiving, patient in the face of harm, and constant in jihad. He stood with his brother in all ⦗9⦘—or most—of his battles against the Franks, in which ⦗10⦘ he rendered outstanding service [and bore the highest banner]. He was anything but tight-fisted: during the year of high prices in Egypt he spent vast sums on the poor and gave abundant charity ⦗11⦘ to everyone in need, commoner and otherwise ⦗12⦘. In the year following the famine he provided shrouds in the courtyards for three hundred thousand strangers and paupers, and in his final illness he continued to give alms until he would remove whatever he was wearing—together with his mount—and donate them ⦗13⦘.
He was fond of food and, despite frequent fasting, enjoyed excellent health and vigor ⦗14⦘. He might partake of several fine meals in a single day and then, before sleeping, eat one Damascus ratl of dry, sugar-coated sweets ⦗15⦘⦗16⦘. And he was