His Teaching Circles
He—may Allah have mercy on him—would recite hadith in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus every Friday and again on Thursday night, and crowds would gather. He would read while weeping, and he would so often move the people to tears that anyone who attended him once could hardly stay away thereafter. When he finished he would make lengthy supplications.

I heard our shaykh Ibn Najā, the preacher in the Qarāfa, say from the pulpit: “The Imām, the Ḥāfiẓ, has arrived and wants to read hadith. I would like you to sit in his circle three times; after that you will know him yourselves and your desire to attend will be secured.” He sat the first day and I was present. He recited traditions with their chains entirely from memory and read a small section besides, and the people rejoiced in him. I then heard Ibn Najā say, “What I was hoping for has been achieved in the very first session.”

I heard some of those present remark, “The people wept until some of them fainted.” He also held gatherings in various places in Egypt.

I heard Maḥmūd ibn Hammām al-Anṣārī say: I heard the jurist Najm ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Ḥanbalī say, having attended the Ḥāfiẓ’s circle:
“O Taqī al-Dīn, by Allah, you have shouldered Islam itself; were it in my power, I would never leave your assembly.”

His Daily Routine
He wasted none of his time in what was of no benefit. He would pray Fajr, teach the Quran, and sometimes dictate a portion of hadith. Then he would rise, perform ablution, and pray three hundred cycles, reciting the Opening Chapter and the two protecting surahs, continuing until shortly before noon. After a brief nap he would pray Ẓuhr and occupy himself either with listening to hadith or with copying texts until Maghrib. If he was fasting he would break his fast; otherwise he would pray from Maghrib until ʿIshāʾ, then perform the ʿIshāʾ prayer and sleep until midnight or a little after. He would then rise as if someone had roused him, pray a short while, renew his ablution, and continue praying until nearly—