Then the year 760 AH opened while the sovereign of Egypt, Syria, and the other Muslim lands attached to them was al-Malik al-Nāṣir Ḥasan, son of Sultan al-Malik al-Nāṣir Muḥammad, son of Sultan al-Malik al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn al-Ṣāliḥī.

The judges in Egypt were the same as those named in the previous year.
His deputy in Damascus was Emir ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī al-Mardānī, and the judges of Syria likewise remained those already mentioned, except for the Mālikī judge: Jamāl al-Dīn al-Musallatī was dismissed and replaced by Sharaf al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī.
Chief of the Chamberlains (ḥājib al-ḥujjāb) was Emir Shihāb al-Dīn ibn Ṣubḥ, and most of the city’s preachers were the same as before.

On Wednesday morning, 3 Muḥarram, Emir ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī, the Sultan’s deputy, entered Damascus from his former deputyship in Aleppo. The populace rejoiced, went out to meet him part-way, and carried candles through the streets. Emir Shihāb al-Dīn ibn Ṣubḥ thereupon donned the great robe of the chief chamberlain in Damascus in place of his former post at Ṣafad.

On Saturday, the 13th of that month, letters from the pilgrims arrived, dated 27 Dhū al-Ḥijjah from al-ʿUlā. They reported that the governor of al-Madīnah al-Nabawiyyah had been attacked by two fidāwiyān (assassins) while putting on the robe sent by the Sultan, at the very moment the mahmal entered the Noble City, and that they killed him. His slaves then fell upon the pilgrims who were inside the city, plundering their property, killing some of them, and fleeing. They had shut the city gates against the army, whereupon portions of the gates were burned; the royal troops broke in and rescued the people from the oppressors.

The Sultan’s mahmal reached Damascus, as usual, on Saturday the 20th of that month, preceded by the two fidāwiyān who had slain the governor of Madinah. Frightful and repulsive things were recounted about the slain man because of his extreme rāfiḍī excesses, among them his remark, “If I were able, I would remove the Two Shaykhs (1) from the Chamber,” along with other expressions that, if truly reported, point to a lack of faith—Allah knows best.

On Tuesday morning, 6 Ṣafar, Emir Shihāb al-Dīn ibn Ṣubḥ, the chief of the chamberlains, and his two sons were seized and confined in the Fortress of al-Manṣūrah. After a few days Emir Nāṣir al-Dīn ibn Khāṣ (2) Turk set out with him for Egypt (3). A shackle was on Ibn Ṣubḥ’s leg, though it was said to have been removed along the way.