the history of our own times, at a moment when every person is aware (1) of this occurrence; both scholar and commoner stand on equal footing in their knowledge of it because of its widespread fame. May Allah grant the Muslims and Islam someone who will preserve and shield them (2), for the enemy has driven them to a grave calamity (3), while among the Muslim kings there is none whose aspiration rises beyond his stomach and his private parts (4). [wa-qad ʿudima sultan al-muslimin Khwarazm Shah] (the Muslim sultan, Khwarazm Shah, is no more) (5).

He said (6): The year drew to a close while the Tatars were still in the land of the Georgians, but when they saw resistance and fighting that promised to be protracted, they turned elsewhere, as was their custom. They marched to Tabriz, and its inhabitants bought peace from them with money. Next they proceeded to Maragha, besieged it, set up mangonels against it, and used Muslim captives as shields. The town was under the rule of a woman—and a people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never prosper—so after a few days they captured the town, slaughtering a multitude whose number none knows but Allah—exalted is He. They carried off abundant plunder, enslaved and seized captives as was their habit—may Allah curse them with a curse that casts them into the Fire of Hell. People feared them with an intense and overwhelming fear; [qīla] (it was said) that a single one of them (7) entered an alley of that town (8) where one hundred men were gathered, yet not one (9) dared come forward. He continued killing them one by one until he had slain them all, and none lifted a hand against him. He then looted that alley single-handedly.

A woman among them, disguised as a man, entered [baytan] (a house) (10) and killed everyone inside by herself. When a captive with her realized she was a woman, he killed her—may Allah curse her.

They then made for the city of Irbil, and the Muslims were sorely distressed. [ahl tilka] (the people of those) (11) districts said, “This is a dire affair.” The Caliph wrote to the people of Mosul and to King al-Ashraf (12), ruler of al-Jazira, saying: “I have outfitted….”