– He then describes the Shaykh’s condition during his incarceration in the Damascus Citadel: how matters reached the point that his books, papers, inkwell, and pen were removed, and how he busied himself with worship, Qur’an recitation, and remembrance. He notes that the Shaykh wrote notes for his companions—some of them scratched in charcoal—and reproduces two such letters. (pp. 440–445).
– Next, he relates the Shaykh’s death, who entered to wash his body, and depicts the funeral procession and the vast crowd that assembled, all of this in the words of al-Barzali. He then cites a few lines of poetry found in the Shaykh’s own hand, composed in the Citadel. (pp. 446–453).
– He proceeds to present a selection of eulogies and elegies composed for the Shaykh, a sizeable portion amounting to nearly one-fifth of the entire book. (pp. 454–546).

After this concise survey of the book’s contents in the order adopted by the author, I wish to record two observations:

First: The book required more orderly arrangement and chronological sequencing of events. Death may have overtaken the author before he could revise it, for he passed away in his late thirties. His own statement when listing his works (p. 107) supports this: “I shall endeavour, God willing, to record as many of his writings as I can elsewhere … and to arrange them in a better order than this.”

Second: Certain events that appear in other sources are missing here, even though their importance and notoriety would lead one to expect their inclusion—such as the affair of ‘Assaf the Christian that led Shaykh al-Islam to compose al-Sarim al-Maslul, his smashing of the stone idols that stood in Damascus, and his account of what transpired before Ghazan, among other incidents and happenings. Perhaps this is due