his father’s burial plot in the Bāb al-Saghīr cemetery, where the funeral prayer was performed for him after the ʿAṣr prayer in the Jarrāḥ Mosque. The judges, notables, and a great number of merchants and commoners attended, so that his funeral was large indeed. He was forty-eight years of age and excelled in grammar, law, and other sciences, following the path of his father—may Allah have mercy on them both. He taught at the Ṣadriyya and Tadmoriyya madrasas, held a foremost teaching seat in the Great Mosque, and served as preacher in the Ibn Ṣulḥān Mosque. He left behind a considerable fortune, approaching one hundred thousand dirhams. And so the account concludes.
Then the month of Ṣafar began, its first day falling on a Friday. An astronomer informed me that on this very day—all praise to Allah—the seven planets, save Mars, converged in the sign of Scorpio, something unseen for many long years. Mars, he said, had already moved ahead into the sign of Sagittarius.
Reports also reached us of the terrible event that befell Alexandria at the hands of the Franks—may Allah curse them. They arrived on Wednesday, the twenty-second of Muḥarram, to find no deputy (1), no army, no coastal watch, and no defender. Early on Friday morning they entered the city after burning several of its great gates, sowing corruption among its people: killing the men, plundering the wealth, and carrying off the women and children as captives. Judgment belongs to Allah, the Most High, the All-Exalted. They remained there on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. At dawn on Wednesday the Egyptian shālish detachment arrived, whereupon the Franks—may Allah curse them—set sail, having already taken a host of captives estimated at four thousand (2). They seized gold, silk, spices, and other goods beyond all reckoning.
That same noon the sultan and the grand emir Yalbugha arrived, but it was too late; all the booty had been transferred to the galleys offshore. From the captives rose wailing, weeping, pleas to Allah, and cries for Muslim aid—sounds that tore at the heart, brought tears to the eyes, and stunned the ears. Truly we belong to Allah and to Him we return.
When the news reached Damascus it grieved the people greatly. The preacher recounted the calamity from the pulpit on Friday, and many in the congregation broke into sobs. Truly we belong to Allah and to Him we return.
A royal decree then came from Egypt instructing the deputy sultan in Syria to seize the Christians en masse and to take a quarter of their wealth to rebuild what had been destroyed in Alexandria and to finance ships for raiding the Franks. The Christians were humiliated; they were dragged violently from their homes, fearing they would be killed and understanding nothing of what was required of them, so they fled in every possible direction. This measure, however, had no basis in the Sacred Law and cannot be relied upon.
On Saturday, the sixteenth of Ṣafar, I was summoned to the Green Parade Ground to meet the deputy sultan. We met after the ʿAṣr prayer, once he had finished playing polo. I found him most congenial—sound in judgment and understanding, eloquent in speech, and gracious in company. I explained to him that this course of action against the Christians could not be sanctioned. He replied that some of the jurists of Egypt