al-Nuhḥās, governor of the city, the market inspector (muḥtasib), and others from among the merchants and common folk. The town was thus left deserted, with no authority remaining save the deputy of the Citadel (1).
[ʿAlam al-Dīn Arjūwash—preoccupied with the Citadel and absent from the city] (2)
On the night of Sunday, the second of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, the inmates of the Bāb al-Ṣaghīr prison smashed the jail door (3). They poured out in a frenzy, scattered throughout the city—almost two hundred men—and looted whatever they could. Reaching Bāb al-Jābiyah, they broke the locks of its outer gate (4), passed through it into the open country, and dispersed wherever they wished; no one could repel (5) or restrain them. Meanwhile the ḥarāfisha—the city rabble—ravaged the outskirts, forcing open orchard gates, wrenching doors and window shutters from their frames, and selling the wood (6) for a pittance.
At the same time the Tatar sultan (7) set his course for Damascus after the battle. The city’s notables, together with Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyyah, gathered at the Mashhad of ʿAlī and agreed to go out to Ghāzān to meet him and obtain a pledge of safety for the people of Damascus. They set out on Monday, the third of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, met him at al-Nabk, and Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn addressed him with forceful, uncompromising words (8) that brought immense benefit to the Muslims—praise be to Allah.
That same night, the Muslim contingents from Ghāzān’s army (9) entered and camped at al-Bādariyyah (10). All the city gates were shut except Bāb Tūmā. On Friday the preacher delivered the sermon in the Great Mosque but mentioned no sultan by name (11). After the prayer Emir Ismāʿīl arrived with a group of envoys and lodged in the Bustān al-Ẓāhir near al-Ṭaran. The firman of safety arrived, was paraded through the streets, and on Saturday, the eighth of the month, it was read aloud in the pulpit enclosure; some gold and silver were scattered among the crowd (12).
On the second day after the proclamation of amnesty (13) they demanded the horses, weapons, and the hidden wealth in people’s possession from—