Ibn Taghribirdi recorded that a strong earthquake struck Syria in A.H. 130 or A.H. 131, which destroyed Jerusalem and forced the inhabitants to take refuge in the desert. He adds that they remained there for forty days, suggesting a prolonged series of aftershocks.

Tsafrir and Foerster (1992b:232) note that Ibn Taghribirdi’s chronicle dates the earthquake to A.H. 130 (11 September 747 – 30 August 748 CE), but that in the same section he also mentions a secondary, less common tradition placing the event in A.H. 131 (31 August 748 – 18 August 749 CE).