Permission was therefore given to Nur al-Din al-Zawawi, the Maliki (1), but he was left undecided. The Shaykh thereupon said, “I will go to prison and follow whatever the public interest dictates.” Nur al-Din—the one now authorized to issue the ruling—replied, “Then let him be placed somewhere befitting a man of his rank.” He was told, however, “The state will accept nothing short of something explicitly called ‘imprisonment.’” Accordingly, he was sent to the judge’s jail and seated ⦗97⦘ in the very spot where Judge Taqi al-Din, the grandson of al-Aʿazz, had once been held (2). Permission was also granted (3) for someone to attend to his needs.

All of this came about at the instigation of Shaykh Nasr al-Manbiji and because of his influence at court. While confined, the Shaykh continued to issue fatwas; people sought him out, visited him, and difficult legal queries were brought to him by emirs and other prominent figures.

ʿAlam al-Din (4) relates: “On the night of Wednesday, the twentieth of Shawwal in the year eight…"