I say: Maybe the correct judgment in regard to al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Ṭaṭar is different from that what al-Maqrīzī says, because of what we shall mention without any partiality for him, as he defamed my father because he arrested one of his relatives and khushdāsh at the order of al-malik (al-Nāṣir Faraj during his third appointment in Damascus), but the truth must be told whatever the circumstances were. Ṭaṭar was a great and eminent ruler, generous, ambitious, discerning, efficient and politic, he grasped for the rule despite those who were older and more powerful than him and despite the great power and courage of the Muʾayyadī mamluks and his own poverty and destitution. He continued to improve his politics, arrange his affairs and beguile his enemies until his position became strong and his foot firmly placed. He changed one government for another in the shortest and easiest way. Sometimes he would flatter this one, sometimes give lavishly to that one, and sometimes confide in another, revealing to him his deepest secrets. All this while secretly improving his own situation with those to whom he did not openly show favour. His way of dealing with somebody he feared was like that of an expert doctor who treats a number of patients with different diseases: so he would examine each one from whom he feared trouble. If he was proud, he would raise him to high positions and promise him the double of this. If he was avaricious, he would give him money and satisfy him. For instance, he paid to some of the Muʾayyadī mamluks, just soldiers, on various occasions within a short period of time, more or less 10000 dinar. If he was proud and wanted power, he appointed him in the highest offices, as he did with amir ʿAlī Bāy al-Muʾayyadī and amir Taghrī Birdī al-Muʾayyadī, known as ʾAkhū Qaṣrūh, whom he appointed in the highest positions of Egypt. He made ʿAlī Bāy dawādār kabīr, in one jump, from an amirate of 10 and he made Taghrī Birdī ʾamīr ʾākhūr kabīr, in one jump also. Moreover, he never found fault in them, agreed with them in whatever they desired, giving to those they loved and withholding from those they hate. Taghrī Birdī even cut in two amir Rāshid b. ʾAḥmad b. Baqr outside the Bāb al-Naṣr, tyrannically , out of rancor, and Ṭaṭar did not ask what his crime was. All of this because of his shrewdness and great patience. He did this not only with ʿAlī Bāy and Taghrī Birdī but with most of the Muʾayyadī troublemakers. At the same time he brought his khushdāsh among the Ẓāhirī closer to him, one after another, secretly purposing to strengthen his position and he manumitted some of them, such as Jānibak al-Ṣūfī, Baybughā al-Muẓaffarī, and Qujaq al-ʿĪsāwī. In the meanwhile he was continuously giving money and ʾiqṭāʿs to those mentioned before, so that after his return from Damascus, one of his friends secretly spoke with him about the money he wasted, and he said: “So -and-so, do you think that what I distributed is lost to my possession? It is all in my grasp, and I shall recover in the shortest time what I gave away to anyone except to the fuqahāʾ and to the pious. Now one in whom there is irresoluteness and light-mindedness could not attain such patience even though he lost his life. In fact, he was brave and courageous in matters after he had calculated their results, and he was clever. He loved display, when he was only an amir, despite his destitution, his mamluks were more imposing than the mamluks of his fellow amirs, including the Nāṣirī’s, the Jakamī’s, the Nawrūzī’s and others.