The account of the return of sovereignty to al-Malik al-Nāṣir, son of al-Malik al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn ⦗1⦘
[and of the fall of al-Malik al-Muẓaffar al-Jashnakīr Baybars’s regime and the disgrace of his shaykh Naṣr al-Manbijī, the ittihādī–ḥulūlī (unionist–incarnationist) ⦗2⦘]
When the thirteenth of Shaʿbān arrived, news spread that al-Malik al-Nāṣir was coming to Damascus. The two emirs, Sayf al-Dīn Qutlubak and al-Ḥājj Bahādur, rode to him at al-Karak and urged him to proceed to the capital. The deputy of Damascus panicked; on the sixteenth of Shaʿbān he set out on fleet dromedaries with a band of followers, accompanied by Ibn Ṣubḥ, lord of Shaqīf ⦗3⦘ Arnūn ⦗4⦘.
In Damascus the emblems of the sultanate were made ready for him—suitable lodgings, ʿaṣāʾib and kawāsāt ⦗5⦘. He left al-Karak in great pomp and sent a letter of safe-conduct to al-Afram. On the night of Monday, the seventeenth of Shaʿbān, the muezzins prayed for him from the minarets; the people ⦗6⦘ burst into supplications on his behalf and rejoiced at the mention of his name. A proclamation of security was issued, instructing everyone to open their shops and feel safe in their homes. The populace began decorating the city, the drums of glad tidings were beaten, and that Tuesday night people slept on their rooftops so they might watch the sultan enter the city. The judges, emirs, and dignitaries all went out to welcome him.
His secretary, Ibn Kathīr, writes:
I was among those who witnessed his entry on Tuesday at midday. He arrived in splendid magnificence. From the place of prayer onward ⦗7⦘ carpets were laid out for him, and he wore the full regalia of kingship. Strips of silk were spread beneath his horse’s hooves; once he had passed over a section it was folded up behind him. A royal parasol ⦗8⦘ was held above his head, while the armored emirs (the silahdāriyya) rode to his right, his left, and before him. The people invoked blessings for him, their voices rising in a mighty roar. It was a day long to be remembered.
Shaykh ʿAlam al-Dīn al-Barzalī said:
On that day the sultan wore a white turban and a red kulawta ⦗9⦘. The person who carried the ceremonial baldachin over the sultan’s head was al-Ḥājj Bahādur, arrayed in a magnificent gilded robe lined with sumptuous fur. When the sultan reached the citadel, a bridge was set up for him, and its deputy, Emir Sayf al-Dīn al-Sinjarī, came down, kissed the ground before him, whereupon the sultan gestured to him.