the ḥadīth masters, the champion of meanings and expressions, the pre-eminent figure of the age (1) and the peerless luminary of his time (2); Shaykh al-Islam, the blessing granted to humankind, the erudite scholar of the era and interpreter of the Qur’an (3); the model of ascetics (4) and the unrivalled devotee; the crusher of innovators and the last of the independent jurists: Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad, son of the shaykh, imam, and scholar Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-Maḥāsin ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm, son of the shaykh, imam, and scholar—Shaykh al-Islam—Majd al-Dīn Abū al-Barakāt ʿAbd al-Salām, son of Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allah, son of Abū al-Qāsim al-Khiḍr ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Khiḍr ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allah (5) ibn Taymiyyah al-Ḥarrānī. A resident of Damascus, he authored works the like of which had never been equalled.

It is said that his grandfather Muḥammad ibn al-Khiḍr performed the pilgrimage along the Taymāʾ route (6). There he saw a young girl, and when he returned he found that his wife had given birth [ق 2] to a daughter. He exclaimed, “O Taymiyyah! O Taymiyyah!” and from that exclamation the family acquired its well-known epithet.