or those under our covenant of protection.” We secured the release of as many Christians as Allah willed. Such are our deeds and our kindness, and our reward rests with Allah. Likewise, everyone knows the kindness, mercy, and compassion we show the Christian captives in our hands, as the last of the messengers enjoined upon us when he said near the end of his life:

“Observe prayer, and care for those whom your right hands possess.”

Allah Most High says in His Book:

“And they give food, despite their love for it, to the needy, the orphan, and the captive.”

Despite the Tatars’ submission to this faith and their professed affiliation with it, we neither deceived them nor behaved hypocritically towards them. Rather, we explained to them their corruption and departure from Islam, which made it necessary to wage jihad against them. We also explained that Allah’s divinely supported troops and victorious armies stationed in Syria and Egypt have continued to prevail over those who oppose them and triumph over their enemies.

During this period, when word spread among the common people that the Tatars were Muslims, the army held back from fighting them; even so, it killed ten-odd thousand of them, while fewer than two hundred Muslims were killed. When the army withdrew to Egypt and learned of the corruption and irreligion of this accursed faction, Allah’s troops marched forth, the earth resounding beneath their tread. They filled the plains and mountains, their numbers, strength, equipment, faith, and sincerity astounding minds and hearts. They were surrounded by Allah’s angels, with whom He has continually reinforced the community devoted to pure monotheism and sincere worship of its Creator.

The enemy fled before them and did not stand to face them. Then the enemy advanced a second time, and He sent upon it such