with the judgeship of Harran, Sinjar, and the territory of Diyār Rabīʿah. Leading scholars studied jurisprudence under him. He then returned to Damascus in 570 AH, and in 573 AH he was appointed its chief judge. During this period he authored numerous works, taught the Qur’anic readings and fiqh, and his renown spread and his standing grew.

He composed Ṣafwat al-Madhhab fī Nihāyat al-Maṭlab (1) in seven volumes; al-Intiṣār in four volumes; al-Murshid in two volumes; al-Dharīʿah fī Maʿrifat al-Sharīʿah; al-Taysīr fī al-Khilāf in four parts; Maʾākhidh al-Naẓar (2); al-Farāʾiḍ; and al-Irshād fī Nuṣrat al-Madhhab, which he did not complete (3).

Nūr al-Dīn built schools for him in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Baalbek. He himself founded a madrasa in Aleppo and another in Damascus, where he is buried.

Among his other writings are: al-Tanbīh fī Maʿrifat al-Aḥkām; Fawāʾid al-Muhadhdhab in two volumes; and a separate treatise—written after he became blind—on the validity of judgments issued by a blind judge. Although this view departs from the Shafiʿi school’s standard position, it rests on a strong legal argument.

When he took up the judgeship of Damascus, he appointed as his deputies Judge Muḥyī al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn al-Zakī and Awḥad al-Dīn Dāwūd, and Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn issued each of them an official warrant confirming their deputation. After Ibn Abī ʿAṣrūn lost his sight, the Sultan invested his son, Muḥyī al-Dīn, with the judgeship without formally dismissing the father. The son served independently until 587 AH, when he was removed and the office passed to Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-Zakī.