Ibn Jubayr
Ibn al-Muqaddam received lands in Maarat al-Nuʿman in 1179 as part of his compensation for yielding Baalbek to Saladin's brother Turan Shah. Ibn Jubayr passed by the town in 1185, and wrote that "Everywhere around the town are gardens... It is one of the most fertile and richest lands in the world". Ibn Battuta visited in 1355, and described the town as small. The figs and pistachios of the town were exported to Damascus.