and had taken refuge among the mountains and hills, and that only a handful of them had survived. By evening the people’s hearts were settled and they congratulated one another on this momentous conquest and blessed victory. From the first light of that same day the victory drums were beaten in the Citadel, and after the ẓuhr prayer a proclamation ordered that all the non-combatants⦗1⦘ vacate the fortress to make room for the Sultan. They immediately began to leave.
On Monday, the fourth of the month, those who had been at al-Kiswah returned to Damascus bearing the news of triumph. That same day Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyyah entered the city with his companions from the jihād. The people rejoiced at his arrival, prayed for him, and congratulated him on the good that Allah had brought about through him. The Syrian army had deputed him to go to the Sultan and urge him to march on Damascus; he had met the Sultan—who was on the verge of turning back to Egypt—and persuaded him to come, whereupon they returned together.
The Sultan asked the Shaykh to stand beside him in the fighting. Ibn Taymiyyah replied, “The sunnah is for a man to stand beneath the banner of his own people; we are part of the Syrian army and will stand only with them.” He then urged the Sultan to engage the enemy and gave him glad tidings of victory, swearing repeatedly by Allah, besides whom there is no deity, “You will surely be granted victory over them this time.” When the amirs said, “Say: if Allah wills,” he answered, “If Allah wills—affirmation, not hesitation.”
He issued a fatwa permitting the people to break their fast for the duration of the battle, and he himself broke the fast. He would pass among the soldiers and commanders eating something he carried in his hand so they would know that breaking the fast to gain strength for combat was preferable, whereupon the men would eat as well.⦗2⦘ In the case of the Syrians he based himself on the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who said, “Tomorrow you will face the enemy, and breaking the fast will make you stronger.” Thus, in the year of the conquest he made breaking the fast obligatory for them, just as in the ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī.⦗3⦘
The caliph, Abū al-Rabīʿ Sulaymān, was in the Sultan’s entourage. When the armies formed ranks and the battle was joined, the Sultan stood firm with remarkable steadfastness; he even had his horse hobbled so that it could not flee. There, on the battlefield, he pledged himself to Allah, mighty and exalted, and great events unfolded. A number of eminent amirs were killed that day: Amīr Ḥusām al-Dīn Lājīn al-Rūmī, the Sultan’s palace tutor, along with eight senior officers, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn ibn al-Malik al-Saʿīd al-Kāmil ibn al-Saʿīd ibn al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl,⦗4⦘ and many other leading commanders. Toward late afternoon victory descended upon the Muslims and they prevailed over their foes—praise and bounty belong to Allah.
When night fell the Tatars tried to scramble over the hills, mountains, and ridges, but the Muslims surrounded them, guarding every avenue of escape and shooting at them with a single volley until dawn. They killed numbers known only to Allah—exalted is He—and brought captives in ropes to have their heads struck off. A group then broke in full flight, and only a few survived; others tumbled into valleys and ravines, and later many of them drowned in