The Accession of al-Malik al-Ashraf Nasir al-Din
Shaban ibn Hasan ibn al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun — Tuesday, 15 Shaʿban.

On the evening of Saturday, 19 Shaʿban of this year—764 AH—an emir arrived from Egypt and lodged in the Ablaq Palace. He reported that the reign of al-Malik al-Mansur, son of al-Muzafar Hajji, son of al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, had come to an end and that he (1) had been seized and imprisoned. Allegiance was then sworn to al-Malik al-Ashraf Shaban ibn Husayn al-Nasir ibn al-Mansur Qalawun, who was about twenty years old. The drums and trumpets of glad tidings were sounded in the Citadel, and on Sunday morning the populace appeared in festive dress. The Chief Judge Taj al-Din and the minister Badr al-Din Majid, supervisor of the bureaus, told me that on Tuesday, 15 Shaʿban, al-Malik al-Mansur had been deposed and confined to his residence, while al-Malik al-Ashraf Nasir al-Din Shaban was seated upon the throne and the oath of fealty was rendered to him (2).

On that same day thunder was heard and a heavy rain fell; the water-spouts overflowed and the streets turned into pools. All this occurred on 5 June, and the people marveled at it.

A plague had broken out in Egypt at the beginning of Shaʿban and steadily worsened, the majority of its victims being Jews; the daily toll among them reached fifty, and Allah’s help is sought.

On Monday, the 7th of the month, word spread through the army that Bedouins had waylaid the expedition bound for al-Rahba, blocked it, killed some of its men, plundered others, and wounded the rest. A courier was dispatched after the deputy and the emirs, summoning them back to the city to pledge allegiance to the new sultan—may Allah make his rule a blessing for the Muslims. Shortly thereafter a number of emirs who had fled before the Bedouins arrived in the worst possible state, humiliated and destitute. Then a second courier came from Egypt ordering them to rejoin the forces with the deputy of the sultanate at Tadmur, threatening them with various punishments and the loss of their fiefs.

In the month of Ramadan the situation became grave because of the plague—inna lillahi wa-inna ilayhi rajiʿun. Its principal victims were the Jews; from the first of Shaʿban to the first of Ramadan nearly one thousand of them perished, according to Qadi Salah al-Din al-Safadi, treasurer of the public funds. Their losses grew even greater during Ramadan itself, while the combined daily count among Muslims and the rest of the dhimmi communities stood at eighty.

On Saturday, the 11th of the month, we performed the funeral prayer after the noon prayer over