and before him marched the emirs and the vanguard of the ḥalqa, carrying the ghāshiya (royal parasol) (1). They were arrayed in robes of honor, while the judges and leading notables rode alongside him. He paraded on the review ground for about an hour, then returned to the Citadel (2).
The emir Sharaf al-Din ʿIsa ibn Muhanna (3), King of the Arabs, came to pay his respects. He kissed the ground before him, sat beside him at the ceremonial spread, and al-Kamil rose in deference to him. The ruler of the Bedouin of the Hijaz likewise presented himself.
Al-Kamil Sunqur ordered that the Aleppine districts be added to the jurisdiction of Qadi Shams al-Din Ibn Khallikan (4). He also appointed him to teach in the Amini madrasa (5), removing it from Ibn Sani al-Dawla (6).
When al-Malik al-Mansur in Egypt learned what Sunqur al-Ashqar had done in Syria, he dispatched a large army against him. They routed the forces of Sunqur al-Ashqar that he had sent to Gaza and drove them before them until the Egyptian army (7) reached the outskirts of Damascus.
Al-Malik al-Kamil (8) therefore ordered his pavilion to be pitched at al-Jisura on Wednesday, the twelfth of Safar. He himself set out with those in his company, camped there, recruited great numbers of men, and spent lavishly. The Bedouin of Emir Sharaf al-Din ʿIsa ibn Muhanna and of Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Hajjī (9) joined him, and reinforcements arrived from Aleppo and Hama, together with many men from Baalbek.
On Sunday, the sixteenth of Safar, the Egyptian host appeared under the command of Emir ʿAlam al-Din Sanjar al-Halabi. When the two armies caught sight of one another and drew up face to face, they fought until the fourth hour of the day, and many were killed. Al-Malik al-Kamil Sunqur al-Ashqar displayed admirable steadfastness, but the army (10) mutinied against him: some went over to the Egyptians, while others fled in every direction (11). His companions scattered, leaving him no choice but to withdraw along the road of al-Marj with only a small band, accompanied by ʿIsa ibn Muhanna (12); he led them on to the steppe of al-Rahba.