At the beginning of Ramadan the Tatars reached al-Raḥbah and besieged it for twenty days. Its deputy-governor, Emir Badr al-Din Musa al-Azdaqshi (1), fought them fiercely for five days, held them off, and prevented the fortress from falling. Rashid al-Dawlah then advised that they go to Sultan Khurbanda, present him with a gift, and ask for pardon. Qadi Najm al-Din Ishaq therefore went, offering five head of horses and ten sugar loaves; the sultan accepted the gift and withdrew to his own territory.
The regions of Aleppo, Hama, and Homs had already been emptied and much of them ruined, but when the inhabitants were certain that the Tatars had departed from al-Raḥbah they returned. Good news spread, hearts were calmed, the drums of glad tidings were beaten, the imams abandoned the qunūt (supplicatory prayer), and on the day of Eid the preacher reminded the people of this blessing. The Tatars’ retreat was caused by a shortage of fodder, soaring prices, and the death of many (2); their sultan had been urged to withdraw by al-Rashīd and Jūbān (3).
On the eighth of Shawwal the drums of glad tidings were sounded in Damascus [because the sultan had departed from Egypt to confront the Tatars] (4). The main caravan set out in mid-Shawwal under the command of Husam al-Din Lajin al-Saghir, formerly governor of the desert, while the Egyptian troops arrived in successive detachments (5). The sultan himself entered Damascus on Tuesday (6), the twenty-third of Shawwal. The populace celebrated his arrival; he took up residence in the Citadel, the city was decorated, and the drums of glad tidings were beaten (7). After two nights (8) he moved to the palace, led the Friday prayer in the congregational mosque from the royal enclosure, and conferred a robe of honor on the preacher. He then sat in the Dār al-ʿAdl on Monday, and his vizier Amīn al-Mulk arrived on Tuesday the twentieth of the month.
Accompanying the sultan was the shaykh, imam, and eminent scholar Taqī al-Din Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah, who reached Damascus on Wednesday, the first of Dhu al-Qaʿdah. He had been absent for seven years. His two brothers and a number of his students were with him. A great multitude came out to welcome him; they rejoiced at his arrival, his good health, and the sight of him—even groups of women came out to see him (9). The sultan had brought him from Egypt, and he had set out with the army intending to fight. When it became clear that no campaign would take place and that the Tatars had returned to their own lands (10), he left the army at Gaza, visited Jerusalem for several days, and then traveled on to ʿAjlūn.