al-Malik al-Muzaffar (1) Abū Saʿīd Kūkubrī (2) [Muzaffar al-Din], son of Zayn al-Din ʿAlī b. Buktakīn (3), was one of the most generous noblemen, eminent chiefs, and illustrious kings. He left many fine legacies: he built the Muzaffari Mosque (4) at the foot of Mount Qasioun and even planned to bring water to it from the Barza spring (5), but al-Muʿaẓẓam forbade that, arguing that the conduit might pass over Muslim graves on the slopes. Each year in Rabīʿ al-Awwal he celebrated the noble Mawlid with great pomp. Alongside this he was gallant, courageous, fearlessly heroic, intelligent, learned, and just—may Allah have mercy on him and honor his resting place.

Shaykh Abū al-Khaṭṭāb Ibn Dihyah (6) composed for him a volume on the Prophet’s birth entitled “Al-Tanwīr fī Mawlid al-Bashīr al-Nadhīr” (“The Illumination on the Birth of the Bringer of Glad Tidings and Warner”), for which al-Muzaffar rewarded him with one thousand dinars. His reign during the Ayyubid era was lengthy; he had taken part in the siege of Acre (7), and up to this very year his public conduct and private character were praiseworthy.

Al-Sibt (8) reports: Someone who attended al-Muzaffar’s banquet at one of these Mawlids related that the spread contained five thousand roasted sheep heads, ten thousand chickens, one hundred thousand bowls, and thirty thousand platters of sweets (9). He adds: At the Mawlid the leading scholars and Sufis would attend; the sultan would robe them with honors, bestow gifts upon them, arrange a samāʿ session for the Sufis from noon until dawn, and even join them in the dance himself (10). He maintained a guest-house for anyone who arrived, from any place and in any condition; his charities covered every act of devotion and reached the Two Sanctuaries and beyond. Each year he ransomed large numbers of Muslim captives from the Franks (11), and it is said that the total he freed from their hands amounted to sixty thousand prisoners (12). His wife Rabīʿa (13) said—