All of these events took place in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan that year. Within three days, the good news arrived that the Muslims had been victorious over the Tatars at the Battle of Ayn Jalut. The situation was as follows: The ruler of Egypt, al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz, learned that the Tatars had done what we have described in Damascus, plundered the entire country, reached Gaza, resolved to enter Egypt, and that the ruler of Damascus, al-Malik al-Nāṣir, intended to migrate to Egypt—if only he had gone there!—and that with him were the ruler of Hama, al-Malik al-Manṣūr, along with a group of commanders and sons of kings, and that they had reached Qatiyya. Al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz showed favor to the ruler of Hama, promised to give him his city, and did him kindness. Al-Malik al-Nāṣir did not enter Egypt; rather, he withdrew toward the desert of Israel. Most of those with him entered Egypt.
His entering Egypt would have been better than withdrawing to the desert. However, due to the enmity between them, he feared them. He turned toward the region of Karak and took defensive measures there. If only he had remained there! But he was uneasy. He set out toward the desert, but did not go. If only he had gone! He sought protection from one of the Bedouin emirs. The Tatars attacked there, plundered the goods, destroyed the houses, killed everyone, young and old, and took the women and children captive. After this, the Arabs took revenge on the Tatars. In the middle of the month of Shaʿbān that year, they attacked the horses in the pastures, seized them all, and drove them away. The Tatars pursued them, but could not catch up. They could not recover a single horse or donkey from them. The Tatars pursued al-Nāṣir and continued to chase him.
Eventually, they caught him near the cistern of Zizi. They sent him, his young son ʿAzīz, and his brother to Hülaguhan. At that time, Hülaguhan was encamped in Aleppo. Hülaguhan kept them as prisoners with him. Finally, in the following year, he killed all three. We will discuss this matter further on.
In short, what we wish to say is this: When al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz heard what the Tatars had done in Damascus and that, after establishing dominance there, they intended to enter the land of Egypt, he set out against them before they could attack him. He set out with his soldiers, who all obeyed him together. Eventually, he reached Damascus. The Mongol soldiers under the command of Qutbūgha Noyan went on alert against him. At that time, Qutbūgha Noyan was in the Biqāʿ. He consulted with al-Ashraf, the ruler of Homs, and Mujīr ibn al-Zakī. They advised him that he could not withstand al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz and should wait for reinforcements from Hülaguhan. But he hastened and decided to confront al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz immediately. Together, they moved against al-Muẓaffar. Al-Muẓaffar also marched against them. On Friday, the twenty-fifth of Ramadan that year, they met at Ayn Jalut.
A fierce battle ensued. Al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz was victorious over them. Praise be to Allah. May this victory be blessed for the Muslims and Islam. The Muslims inflicted a terrible defeat upon them. They killed the Mongol commander Qutbūgha Noyan and a group from his family. It is reported that the one who killed Qutbūgha Noyan was Emir Jamāl al-Dīn Akkuş al-Shamsī. The Muslim soldiers pursued them and began killing them everywhere. The ruler of Hama, al-Malik al-Manṣūr, and Emir Fāris al-Dīn Aktay al-Mustarab (who was the atabeg of the soldiers) fought alongside al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz against the Tatars. Of the men around Qutbūgha Noyan,
a group was taken captive by al-Malik al-Saʿīd ibn ʿAzīz ibn ʿĀdil. Al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz ordered him to execute these captives. The ruler of Homs, al-Ashraf, had sided with the Tatars in this battle. Afterwards, he sought protection from al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz. Hülaguhan had appointed him as deputy over the entire region of Damascus. Al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz granted him protection and returned the city of Homs to him. Likewise, he returned the city of Hama to al-Malik al-Manṣūr, and in addition, gave him Maʿarra and other towns. He gave the city of Silmiya to Sharaf al-Dīn ʿĪsā ibn Muhannā ibn Manīʿ, who was the emir of the Arabs. Emir Baybars al-Bunduqdārī and a group of brave men continued to pursue the Tatars, killing them wherever they found them. Eventually, the Tatars fled to Aleppo. The Tatar soldiers in Damascus abandoned the city and fled on Sunday, the twenty-seventh of Ramadan.
The Muslims of Damascus pursued them, killed some of them, and rescued the Muslim captives in their hands. This good news reached al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz. Praise be to Allah for compensating the previous calamities. The drums of glad tidings began to be beaten all over the citadel. The believers rejoiced greatly at this victory that Allah had made possible. Allah, the Exalted, greatly strengthened Islam and the Muslims. He brought ruin upon the Christians, Jews, and hypocrites. Even though the religion of Allah displeased them, it became manifest and was elevated. At that time, the Muslims attacked the Christian church where the great cross had previously been displayed. They plundered the goods there, set the church on fire, and burned its surroundings. Many houses belonging to Christians in the vicinity were burned. Allah filled their houses and graves with fire. Part of the Jacobite church was also burned. A group of Muslim soldiers turned to plundering the goods of the Jews.
It is reported that the Jews had not acted as outrageously as the Christians. The people killed a Rāfiḍī shaykh in the middle of the Great Mosque of Damascus, who had guided the Tatars to plunder the Muslims' goods and flattered them. This shaykh's name was Fakhr Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad al-Ganjī. He was corrupt within and in collaboration with the Tatars. May Allah curse him. Meanwhile, the Muslims also killed a group of hypocrites. "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Thus the last remnant of the wrongdoing people was cut off." (al-Anʿām, 45).
Hülaguhan wrote and sent a decree appointing Kamāl al-Dīn ʿUmar ibn Bidār al-Tiflīsī as judge over the regions of Syria, al-Jazīra, Mosul, Mardin, Ḥiṣn al-Akrād, and other areas. Kamāl al-Dīn ʿUmar had been acting as deputy for eleven years in Damascus for Judge Ṣadr al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Hibatullāh ibn Sunnīyü'd-Devle. When the decree arrived in Damascus on the twenty-sixth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal that year, it was read in the Maydān al-Akhdar. Thus, Kamāl al-Dīn ʿUmar became the independent, noble judge of Damascus. He was a virtuous person. The dismissed Judge Ṣadr al-Dīn ibn Sunnīyyü'd-Devle and Judge Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn Zakī went to Aleppo to serve Hülaguhan. Ibn Zakī deceived Ibn Sunnīyyü'd-Devle, spending a great deal of money for this purpose. He himself was appointed as judge of Damascus. Ibn Sunnīyyü'd-Devle died in Baalbek. Ibn al-Zakī came to Damascus as judge, bringing with him his decree and the robe of his school of law. He donned his robe and sat beneath the Nasr dome at the Bāb al-Kabīr to serve Abalsiyān. Among those present was Abalsiyān's wife, Ḥātūn, sitting with her face unveiled. The decree was read there in this state. When Hülaguhan's name was mentioned, gold and silver were scattered over the people's heads. Inna lillāhi wa inna ilayhi rājiʿūn (Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return). May Allah curse this judge, Abalsiyān, his wife, and Hülaguhan.
According to Abū Shāma, Ibn al-Zakī, during this short tenure, took control of many madrasas, and was dismissed before the end of the year. During this period, the Azrāwiyya, Sulṭāniyya, Falaqiyya, Rukniyya, Qaymāziyya, and ʿAzīziyya madrasas came under Ibn al-Zakī's control. The Taqāwiyya and ʿAzīziyya madrasas were already in his possession. He had his son ʿĪsā appointed as instructor and shaykh al-shuyūkh of the Umayya madrasa. He gave the Umm Salih madrasa to his friend ʿImād al-Miṣrī. He also gave the Shāmiyya al-Barrāniyya madrasa to another friend. His maternal brother, Shihāb al-Dīn Ismāʿīl ibn Asʿad ibn Hubayshī, he appointed as judge and gave him the administration of the Rawāniyya and Shāmiyya al-Barrāniyya madrasas. Abū Shāma said: "Yet in the endowment deed of the Shāmiyya al-Barrāniyya, there was a stipulation that this madrasa could not be merged with another madrasa."
When Damascus and other towns were taken from the Tatars and passed into the hands of the Muslims, Ibn al-Zakī strove greatly to remain in the judgeship. He spent much money so as not to be dismissed from this post and to retain control of the madrasas. However, these positions did not remain with him for long. On the contrary, he was dismissed. In his place, Judge Najm al-Dīn Abū Bakr ibn Ṣadr al-Dīn ibn Sunnīyyü'd-Devle was appointed. The decree of appointment was read on Friday, the twenty-first of Dhū al-Qaʿda, after the Friday prayer, in front of the Kamālī window beside the ʿUthmān platform in the Great Mosque of Damascus.
After al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz crushed the Tatars at Ayn Jalut, he pursued them, continuing to chase them. He entered Damascus with great pomp. The people rejoiced greatly at his arrival and offered many supplications for him. Al-Malik al-Muẓaffar kept al-Malik al-Ashraf as governor of Homs and al-Malik al-Manṣūr as governor of Hama. He took the city of Aleppo from Hülagu. Justice was established, and order was restored. Previously, al-Malik al-Muẓaffar had sent Emir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī to Aleppo to pursue and capture the Tatars, promising to appoint Baybars as governor of Aleppo. When Baybars expelled the Tatars from Aleppo and took possession of the city, al-Malik al-Muẓaffar appointed instead ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, the son of the ruler of Mosul. Because of this, enmity arose between al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz and Baybars, and this soon resulted in the killing of al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz. The command, both before and after this, was of course in the hand of the exalted Allah.
After completing his affairs in Damascus, al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz intended to return to Egypt. In Damascus, he left Emir ʿAlam al-Dīn Sanjar al-Ḥalabī al-Kabīr and Emir Mujīr al-Dīn ibn Ḥusayn ibn Aqṣā Tīmūr as deputies. He dismissed Judge Ibn al-Zakī from the judgeship of Damascus and appointed Ibn Sunnīyyü'd-Devle in his place. Then he returned to the land of Egypt with his soldiers. The notables, dignitaries, and nobles among the people could not look upon his face comfortably due to his intense awe.