the Jarrāḥ Mosque outside Bāb al-Ṣaghīr, together with many other mosques; they set up a trebuchet at Bāb al-Ṣaghīr and another at Bāb al-Jābiya, while inside the city they erected two further trebuchets. The two forces exchanged volleys ⦗1⦘.
Al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl sent Emir Muʿīn al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh a prayer-rug, a staff, and a water-jug, with the message, “You would do better to busy yourself with these than with besieging kings.” Muʿīn replied by dispatching a set of zamr (reed pipes), a wajank (lute), and a thin silk shift of red and yellow, adding, “The prayer-rug is suited to me, but these are more appropriate for you.”
At daybreak Ibn al-Shaykh tightened the siege of Damascus, and al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl ordered the pavilion ⦗2⦘ of his father al-ʿĀdil to be burned. The blaze ⦗3⦘ spread along Ziqāq al-Rummān ⦗4⦘ as far as al-ʿUqayba, which was completely consumed ⦗5⦘; the water-courses were cut off, prices soared, and the roads ⦗6⦘ became perilous. In Damascus there took place extremely repellent, hideous [shaniʿa] acts the like of which had never ⦗7⦘ been witnessed. The blockade dragged on for months, lasting into Jumādā al-Awwal of that year.
Amīn al-Dawla ⦗8⦘ then asked Emir Muʿīn al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh for some of his clothing. Muʿīn sent him a furjiyya cloak, a turban, a shirt, and a kerchief. Amīn donned them and went to see Muʿīn al-Dīn, conferred with him at length after the night prayer, returned, and then went back once more. They agreed that al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl would withdraw to Baalbek and surrender Damascus to al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb; [the populace rejoiced at the news, and the next morning al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl set out for Baalbek] ⦗9⦘.
Muʿīn al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh entered the city and took up residence in Dār Sāma. He appointed and dismissed, withheld and bestowed ⦗10⦘, entrusting the office of Chief Judge to Ṣadr al-Dīn ibn Sanī al-Dawla ⦗11⦘ and removing Qāḍī Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-Zakī ⦗12⦘. Ibn Sanī al-Dawla deputized al-Tiflisī ⦗13⦘—who had previously deputized for Ibn al-Zakī—and Badr al-Sinjārī ⦗14⦘.
Finally, Muʿīn al-Dīn ibn al-Shaykh sent Amīn al-Dawla Ghazāl al-Musalmānī, the vizier of al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, under guard to the Egyptian domains.