Dirgham held Bilbays against the Turks, but was defeated, though able to re-assemble his forces for the defence of Cairo. Shirkuh was able to gain possession of Fustat, but the fortified Kahira was held by Dirgham and he was able to resist all the Turkish attacks made upon it. Then Dirgham, who relied most on the popularity he enjoyed amongst the soldiers, sorely pressed for funds, laid hands on the _waqf_ or “pious bequests,” a comprehensive term which in a Muslim land includes all property left in trust for religious and allied purposes, the salaries of the mosque officials, the alms bequeathed for distribution amongst the widows and orphans and pilgrims, the lands left for the upkeep of the mosques and schools, even the copies of Qurʾans presented to a mosque for the use of worshippers and teachers contain on the fly-leaf an inscription declaring them _waqf_ for such and such a mosque; indeed the term includes everything held in trust for religious, charitable, or educational purposes, and in a country like Egypt this implies a very vast total, to-day administered under the supervision of an important department of the state. The actual seizure of this property by Dirgham, an act almost without precedent in Islam, caused a general revulsion of feeling amongst soldiers and people and practically ruined Dirgham’s cause at once. The army deserted him and the Khalif followed their lead; only a bodyguard of 500 men was left to the wazir. Conscious of his mistake Dirgham sought too late to try to repair it. For hours he stood in the great square before the Khalif’s palace with his faithful bodyguard and called out like a petitioner for the Khalif’s pardon and help, but without any reply being sent out to him. Then he noticed that even as he stood there his men were gradually stealing away from him, until at last only thirty were left. Suddenly a cry was raised that the besiegers had broken through the fortifications and had entered the royal city, which indeed was the case, the Turkish host riding in by the Bab al-Qantara leading from Jawhar’s bridge over the canal into Kafur’s garden, and at this news Dirgham turned away and rode out through the Bab az-Zuwila on the south. But this road took him through part of the old city and he was recognised by the citizens, pulled from his horse, and beheaded. His head was paraded through the streets and reviled by all, for the mediaeval Muslim had no sympathy with ecclesiastical disendowment, whilst the body was left lying on the ground until it was eaten by the city dogs.