anyone else at all, speaking at length while the people echoed his words(1) and repeated them—judges(2) and emirs alike. It was an astonishing scene, and it vexed many of the Shaykh’s own contemporaries who were present.

The Sultan poured forth such lavish and emphatic praise for the Shaykh that even the latter’s closest disciples could not have matched it.

A little later the vizier informed the Sultan that ahl al-dhimmah (non-Muslim subjects) had offered the treasury seven hundred thousand dirhams every year, in addition to the poll-tax (jaliyah)(3), on condition that they be allowed to return to wearing white turbans trimmed with red, yellow, and blue, and that they be excused from the fully dyed turbans(4) in those same colors that Rukn al-Din al-Shashankir had imposed upon them.

The Sultan turned to the judges and the others present and asked, “What is your opinion?”—but everyone remained silent.

When Shaykh Taqi al-Din saw their silence, he knelt on his knees and began addressing the Sultan in stern language, forcefully rejecting the proposal the vizier had conveyed on their behalf, while the Sultan tried to quiet him with gentleness, deliberation, and respect. The Shaykh pressed on(5), speaking with a power that no one else could equal or even approach, until the Sultan withdrew the proposal, required the dhimmis to remain under the existing regulations, and matters continued in that state.