along with others, and they all resolved to depose al-Nasir Dawud from the rule of Damascus and to hand the city over to al-Ashraf Musa, so that Syria might be protected from the Franks. The implementation of this decision will be mentioned under the events of the following year, if Allah Most High so wills.

In the same year: al-Sadr al-Bakri (1) was removed from the ḥisba (market inspectorate) of Damascus and from the post of shaykh al-shuyukh (chief of the shaykhs), and two other men were appointed in his stead.

Shaykh Shihab al-Din (2) Abu Shama (3) relates: Early in the month of Rajab the righteous jurist, Shaykh (4) Abu’l-Hasan ʿAli ibn al-Marrakshi, who resided in the Maliki Madrasa, passed away. He was buried in the cemetery endowed by the dignitary (5) Khalil ibn Zuwayzan, south of the Sufi graveyards, and he was the first to be interred there—may Allah Most High have mercy upon him.

[Then the year 626 AH began]

This year opened while the Ayyubid rulers were scattered and at odds, having split into parties and factions. Their kings gathered around al-Kamil Muhammad, lord of Egypt, who was encamped in the vicinity of the Noble Sanctuary of Jerusalem. The Franks—may Allah curse them—grew bolder because of the reinforcements that had reached them by sea, the death of al-Muʿaẓẓam, and the discord among the rulers who succeeded him. They therefore demanded that the Muslims restore to them what al-Nasir Salah al-Din had taken from them. A reconciliation was accordingly concluded between them and the kings on the basis that Jerusalem alone would be returned, while the rest of the lands would remain in Muslim hands. Thus the Franks took possession of the Holy City; al-Muʿaẓẓam had already demolished its walls. This calamity weighed very heavily upon the Muslims, causing severe weakness and great consternation. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.

Subsequently King al-Kamil advanced and laid siege to Damascus, tightening the noose around its inhabitants: he cut off (7) the waterways, the storehouses were plundered (8), and prices soared. The troops remained encamped around the city until he forced his nephew, Salah al-Din al-Malik al-Nasir Dawud ibn al-Muʿaẓẓam, to withdraw—on condition that he would reign from the city of al-Karak, al-Shawbak, Nablus, and a number of villages in (9) the Ghawr (the Jordan Valley) and al-Balqaʾ, while the amir ʿIzz al-Din Aybak, the ustadh-dar (majordomo) of al-Muʿaẓẓam and lord of Ṣarkhad, would remain with him. Thereafter al-Ashraf and his brother al-Kamil exchanged territories: al-Ashraf received Damascus, and he gave