the lights⦗1⦘; with the waft of its breath the bosoms of the flowers split open⦗2⦘, and every particle of creation spoke in the tongues of its own attributes, rehearsing the lessons contained in its habits.

“O sleepers⦗3⦘, awake! O you who have been kept at a distance⦗4⦘, step forward and expose yourselves to grace: ‘So behold⦗5⦘ the effects of Allah’s mercy—how He revives the earth after its death. Surely the One who gives it life is the very One who will raise the dead, and He has power over all things’ (Qur’an 30:50).

Abu al-Fath Naṣr Allah ibn Hibat Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī ibn Hibat Allah ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyā ibn Buzāqa⦗6⦘, of the Ghifārī, Kinānī line, an Egyptian who later settled in Damascus⦗7⦘, was one of the closest confidants of al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam and of his son, al-Nāṣir Dāwūd. He travelled with the latter to Baghdad in 633 AH. He was a man of letters, delightful in conversation—may Allah have mercy on him. Among his verses are these⦗8⦘:

[long metre]
When you, my masters, refused to visit me
and gave me distance in place of closeness,
When you would not grant union while I was awake,
and my tender heart could not endure your absence—
I set my eyelids as a snare to catch your phantom⦗9⦘,
and won the ease of life through sleep and longing-labour⦗10⦘.

[Then the year 651 AH began]

In it: Shaykh Najm al-Dīn al-Bādarāʾī⦗11⦘, the caliph’s envoy, arrived to mediate between the ruler of Egypt and the ruler of Syria⦗12⦘. He reconciled the two armies, which had been locked in fierce and protracted combat⦗13⦘. Indeed, the Egyptian forces had inclined toward the Franks and promised to hand Jerusalem over to them if they would aid them against the Syrians⦗14⦘. Numerous grave incidents had occurred, but he succeeded in restoring peace.