Three months after destroying the Crusader field army at Ḥaṭṭīn, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn brought his army to Jerusalem. After a siege of under two weeks and fighting at the northern walls, Balian of Ibelin negotiated the city's surrender, agreed on 27 Rajab 583 — a Friday, and, as the chroniclers delighted to record, the date on which the Miʿrāj was commemorated.
Where the First Crusade's entry in 492 AH had ended in massacre, the surrender terms allowed the inhabitants to ransom themselves, and the departing were escorted to the coast. The cross was taken down from the Dome of the Rock, the Aqṣā mosque was cleared and perfumed, and the first Friday prayer was held within the week — 88 years after the last.
ʿImād al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī and Ibn al-Athīr, both close to the events, fix the date precisely.