to the steppe of al-Rahba, where he lodged them in goat-hair tents and provided for them and their mounts as long as they stayed with him. He then dispatched the emirs who had deserted him; they obtained a guarantee of safety from Emir Sanjar, who had encamped outside Damascus while the city kept its gates shut (1).
Sanjar corresponded with the Citadel’s deputy governor and persisted until, late in the afternoon, Bab al-Faraj was opened. The Citadel itself was then unbarred from within; al-Mansur took possession of it and released Emir Rukn al-Din Baybars the Persian, known as al-Jaliq (2), Emir Husam al-Din Lajin (3) al-Mansuri, and the other emirs whom Sunqur al-Ashqar had imprisoned. Sanjar thereupon dispatched the mounted couriers (4) to King al-Mansur to apprise him of the situation, and he sent three thousand men in pursuit of Sunqur al-Ashqar (5).
On that very day Ibn Khallikan (6) arrived to salute Emir Sanjar al-Halabi; the latter detained him in the upper storey of the Najibiyya khanqah (7) and, on Thursday, the twentieth of Safar, removed him from office. A decree was then issued appointing Qadi Najm al-Din Ibn Sani al-Dawla (8) to the judgeship, and he immediately assumed the post.
Soon the couriers returned bearing a letter from King al-Mansur Qalawun (9) rebuking various factions yet pardoning them all (10), whereupon prayers on his behalf were redoubled (11). A further patent arrived appointing Emir Husam al-Din Lajin al-Silahdar (12) al-Mansuri as viceroy of Syria; ‘Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Halabi accompanied him and installed him in the Dār al-Sa‘āda (13).
Sanjar ordered Qadi Ibn Khallikan to vacate the Great ʿĀdiliyya Madrasa so that Najm al-Din Ibn Sani al-Dawla might reside there, and he pressed him earnestly. Ibn Khallikan therefore procured camels to move his family and possessions to al-Ṣāliḥiyya. At that very moment a courier arrived with a letter from the Sultan confirming Ibn Khallikan in the judgeship, pardoning him, expressing gratitude and praise, and recalling his previous services—together with a robe of honour.