who campaigned at the Sultan’s command, from among the people of al-Jabal, al-Jurd, and Kisrawān. The conquest and victory Allah has granted over these wretches are among the momentous blessings He has bestowed upon the Sultan and the Muslims.

This is because these people and their like are among the greatest perpetrators of corruption in worldly and religious affairs.

Their belief is that Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, those who fought at Badr and those who took the Pledge of Divine Pleasure, the great majority of the Emigrants and Helpers and those who followed them in righteousness, the imams and scholars of Islam belonging to the four schools and others, the religious masters and devout worshippers of Islam, Muslim rulers and their soldiers, ordinary Muslims and individual members of the community—all these, in their view, are unbelievers and apostates, more unbelieving than the Jews and Christians. This is because they regard them as apostates, and an apostate is worse than someone who was an unbeliever from the outset. For this reason, they favor the Franks and Tatars over the people of the Quran and faith.

Thus, when the Tatars came to the land, they inflicted untold devastation upon the Muslim army and sent word to the people of Cyprus, who seized part of the coast. They raised the banner of the cross and transported to Cyprus Muslim horses, weapons, and captives in numbers known only to Allah. Their market was held on the coast for twenty days, during which they sold Muslims, horses, and weapons to the people of Cyprus. They rejoiced at the Tatars’ arrival, as did all the other adherents of this accursed doctrine, such as the people of Jazzīn and its surroundings, and Jabal ʿĀmil and its neighboring districts.