Then the year 636 AH began.
In it:
Al-Malik al-Jawād passed judgment on al-Ṣafī ibn Marzūq (1), confiscated four hundred thousand dinars from him, and imprisoned him in the citadel of Ḥimṣ, where he remained for three years without seeing daylight. Yet Ibn Marzūq (2) had previously shown al-Jawād abundant kindness.
Al-Jawād then empowered a servant of his wife named al-Nāṣiḥ, who proceeded to despoil the Damascenes, taking from them some six hundred thousand dinars. He also arrested Emir ʿImād al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh (3)—the very man who had enabled him to gain dominion over Damascus. Thereafter he grew fearful of ʿImād al-Dīn’s brother, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh (4), who was in Egypt, and became uneasy about ruling Damascus, exclaiming, “What do I want with kingship? A falcon and a dog are dearer to me than this!”
He went out hunting and corresponded with al-Ṣāliḥ Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb ibn al-Kāmil. The two agreed to exchange Ḥiṣn Kayfā, Sinjār, and their dependencies for Damascus. Thus al-Ṣāliḥ (5) gained Damascus and entered it on the first of Jumāda I that year, while al-Jawād walked before him bearing the royal canopy (6). Al-Muẓaffar, lord of Ḥamāh, then relieved him of it—an unforgettable day—and al-Jawād lodged in the Dār al-Saʿādah.
He soon regretted his actions and tried to make amends, but to no avail. He left Damascus while the people cursed him to his face (7) because of the sums he had exacted from them. Al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb wrote to him ordering that the people’s money be returned, but he paid no heed and departed, the debt still upon him.
When al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb eventually secured the sovereignty of Egypt, as will be related, he imprisoned al-Nāṣiḥ the servant, who died in the most wretched state—destitute and ridden with lice—in fitting retribution: “Your Lord is never unjust to His servants” (8) (Qur’an 41:46).
Also in this year:
Al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb set out from Damascus in Ramadan heading for Egypt, intending to wrest it from his younger brother al-ʿĀdil. He encamped at Nablus, seized it, removing it from the control of al-Nāṣir Dāwūd, and dispatched a message to his uncle al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl