When he reached the congregational mosque, people whispered, “Any moment now the doors will be shut upon him and his companions and they will all be killed.” He nevertheless entered, and we went in with him. He prayed two units of supererogatory prayer; the moment he concluded them(1) the call to ʿAṣr was given, so he led the ʿAṣr prayer. Afterward he opened his discourse with the recitation, “All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds” (al-Fātiḥah, 2), and then addressed the very issue that had sparked the turmoil—speaking on it continuously until the adhān of Maghrib.

The followers of his adversaries came out saying, “By Allah, we were mistaken in rising up against this man. By Allah, what he says is the truth. Had he spoken anything false we would not have allowed him even to finish; we would have rushed to kill him. And had he concealed something at odds with what he shows openly, it would not have escaped us.” They split into two groups, each arguing with the other.

He said, “We then accompanied the Shaykh to his cousin’s house by the river and spent the night there.”

***

[Another injury inflicted on the Shaykh]

Shaykh ʿAlam al-Dīn(3) related: “In the middle ten days of Rajab in the year eleven(4), Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn suffered an affront in Cairo. Some of those who hated him caught him in a secluded spot and behaved toward him with gross disrespect. A large number of soldiers and others came to the Shaykh afterward, offering to avenge him, but he would not agree to that.”