the Euphrates (1) under cover of darkness, and by this Allah lifted from the Muslims a grievous and crushing anxiety; praise and bounty belong to Him alone.
The Sultan entered Damascus on Tuesday, the fifth of Ramadan, the Caliph riding before him. The city was festooned with decorations, and every inhabitant—the people of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (2)—rejoiced. The Sultan first lodged in the Ablak Palace (3) and the parade ground, then on Thursday moved to the Citadel, where he led the Friday prayer. He conferred robes of honor on the provincial deputies, ordered them back to their districts, and minds were set at ease: despair vanished and the people’s hearts were gladdened.
The Sultan dismissed Ibn al-Naḥḥās from the governorship of the city and appointed in his place Amīr ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Aydughdi (4), known as Amīr ʿIlm. He also removed Ṣārim al-Dīn Ibrāhīm (5), the special governor over the rural domain, and installed Amīr Ḥusām al-Dīn Lajin the Younger (6) in his stead. Thereafter the Sultan returned to the Egyptian territories (7) on Tuesday, the third of Shawwal, having fasted the month of Ramadan and celebrated the ʿĪd in Damascus.
The Sufis petitioned Damascus’s deputy, al-Afram, to appoint Shaykh Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Hindī as shaykh al-shuyūkh. He authorized him to assume the post on Friday, the sixth of Shawwal, in place of Nāṣir al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Salām (8).
The Sultan entered Cairo (9) on Tuesday, the twenty-third of Shawwal—a memorable day on which the city was splendidly adorned.
That same year a powerful earthquake (10) struck on Thursday morning, the twenty-third of Dhuʾl-Ḥijjah. Its greatest force was felt in the Egyptian lands: the seas churned, ships were smashed, houses collapsed, and multitudes—known only to Allah—perished. Walls split open, and nothing like it had been witnessed in these times. A portion of the quake reached the Levant, but it was lighter there than elsewhere (11).
In Dhuʾl-Ḥijjah Shaykh Abū al-Walīd Ibn al-Ḥāj al-Ishbīlī, a Mālikī, assumed the imamate of the Mālikī miḥrāb in the Great Mosque of Damascus after the death of Shaykh Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṣanhājī (12).