Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 42.16.8

42.16.8

Some thousands of people of the better sort, having no time to provide carriages, or any other conveniencies, took their wives and children by the hand, and without minding their being without a veil, and without a mask, they brought them out to public view, and carried them to the foot of the fortress, leaving the whole of their property behind, without so much as taking the value of a straw from it. The King had already done so himself. His Palace, ready furnished, his wardrobe, his elephants, horses, jewels — all were left behind. The analysts write that a vast wealth to the amount of five or six corors, was plundered and made away with, by the robbers and thieves that abounded both in the city and camp, and this too sometime before the army could come up. Rich merchants and wealthy bankers, who lived these many generations in that city, without having ever seen so much as a tumult, were stripped of their all, and reduced to beggary in a few moments. For those that were jealous of their honor, abandoned both houses and property, and were only busy all night in carrying their consorts and families to the castle. At day-break the army arrived, and a general plunder took place ; and as it was a very rich city, and every market and every street was full of goods, merchandise, money, and precious things, the plunder was immense, and that unfortunate city seemed to undergo by anticipation its condemnation at the Day of Judgment.