Then the year 625 AH began.
In that year: many battles were fought between Jalal al-Din and the Tatars (1). They routed him more than once, but after all of that he struck them a crushing blow, killing a host—nations beyond reckoning [in number]. Those Tatars had broken away and rebelled against Genghis Khan, so Genghis Khan (2) wrote to Jalal al-Din, saying, “These men are not of us; we have cast them off. Yet you shall see from us that against which you have no power.”
In the same year: a large contingent of Franks came from the direction of Sicily, disembarked at Acre and Tyre, and attacked the city of Sidon, wrenching it from the believers, overrunning it (3), and growing in strength. The Emperor then arrived and seized the island of Cyprus (4); thereafter he marched and encamped at Acre, and the Muslims feared the harm he might bring—Allah is the One whose help is sought.
King al-Malik al-Kamil Muḥammad ibn al-ʿĀdil, the ruler of Egypt, rode to the noble sanctuary of Jerusalem (5) and entered it. He then proceeded to Nablus, whereupon al-Nasir Dawud ibn al-Muʿaẓẓam grew fearful of his uncle al-Kamil. He wrote to his uncle al-Ashraf, who hastened to join him, and he wrote to his brother al-Kamil, imploring him and urging him to spare his nephew. Al-Kamil replied, “I have come only to safeguard Jerusalem and protect it from the Franks who wish to seize it. Far be it from me to besiege my brother or my brother’s son. Now that you have come to Syria, you will guard it, and I shall return to the Egyptian lands.”
Al-Ashraf and the people of Damascus (6) feared that, should al-Kamil leave, the Franks’ ambitions might extend (7) to Jerusalem. Al-Ashraf therefore rode to his brother al-Kamil and dissuaded him from departing. Both of them remained there—may Allah reward them well—protecting Jerusalem (8) from the accursed Franks.
A number of their princes gathered around al-Malik [al-ʿĀdil]: his brother al-Ashraf, their brother al-Shihab Ghazi ibn al-ʿĀdil, their brother al-Salih Ismaʿil ibn al-ʿĀdil, and the lord of Homs, Asad al-Din Shirkuh ibn Nasir al-Din [Muḥammad ibn Shirkuh],