Sibt ibn al-Jawzi discussed the earthquake in two separate passages, dating it incorrectly in the first and more or less correctly in the second. Like other Arabic chroniclers, he placed the event at daybreak on 21 May instead of 20 May 1202 CE—an error that likely reflects differences between the modern Islamic calendar and the one used in his time. In the second passage, he also dated the event to 20 Ab, which in the Syriac calendar corresponds to 20 August but, in an earlier Babylonian-Akkadian precursor of that calendar, equates to 20 May. It is therefore likely that he meant 20 May.

When both of his passages are combined, they form a relatively detailed account of the earthquake or earthquakes. According to his biography, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi was about seventeen years old and living in Damascus when the earthquake struck, so parts of his testimony probably derive from personal experience. In one passage he said that the initial shock lasted for as long as it took to read Surat al-Kahf (about forty-five seconds) and was followed by a series of aftershocks, while in another he stated that it continued for twenty-four hours—a reference likely to the continuing sequence of tremors. The final shock after this period was described as weak.

Sibt ibn al-Jawzi reported that Acre was destroyed with 30,000 dead, and that Tyre and “all the coastal citadels ,” including Tripolis and ʿAraqa, suffered devastation. He wrote that the earthquake destroyed most of the houses of Damascus and an unnamed mosque there, apparently referring to the Great Mosque of Damascus. The mosque’s Dome of Nasr (“Victory”) was said to have split in two, the outer minaret collapsed, the remaining minarets shook, and sixteen crenellations from the north wall fell to the ground. The earthquake was said to have been felt as far as Cyprus, Akhlat, the Jazira, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. He gave a total of 1.1 million deaths, a figure that, though likely exaggerated, may also include those who died from a concurrent plague.

He wrote that Homs, Hamah, Aleppo, and “all the capitals” of the Muslim territories were affected, and that the citadel of Baalbek was destroyed. Homs and its citadel were said to have been completely ruined. A landslide reportedly killed 200 workers in the mountains of Lebanon outside Baalbek—a detail also mentioned by Ibn al‑Latif al‑Baghdadi in his Letter from Damascus, where it was placed on Mount Lebanon or in the mountains of Lebanon depending on the translation. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi’s version may resolve this discrepancy by situating the event specifically in the Lebanese mountains near Baalbek. He also noted that Nablus was affected, the watchtower of Hisn al-Akrad was destroyed, and a tsunami struck Cyprus. Finally, he remarked that considerable destruction occurred throughout the Muslim territories in the north.