792 AH, 14/01
Al-malik al-Ẓāhir, when he learned that al-malik al-Manṣūr and Minṭāsh were coming to make war upon him, left the siege of Damascus and advance toward them with his armies and mamlūks and encamped at Shaqḥab, while the Egyptian army encamped at the village of Malīḥa, distant from Shaqḥab about one post station. Minṭāsh and the sultan remained there that day, and then having sent out a reconnoitering party which found al-Ẓāhir at Shaqḥab, advanced toward him. Sultan Manṣūr’s forces had been drawn up by Minṭāsh in battle order, with right and left flank, center, two wings, and reserves for the right and left; while al-Ẓāhir also had drawn up his forces, but because he had fewer men his battle lines were not as elaborately disposed as were those of Minṭāsh.