al-Kāmil during the Damietta campaign, intending to install his brother Ibrāhīm al-Fāʾiz as sultan. Al-Kāmil sensed what was afoot, so he dealt with the matter tactfully until al-Muʿaẓẓam arrived. He disclosed the secret to him, whereupon al-Muʿaẓẓam went one day to Ibn al-Mashṭūb’s tent. Ibn al-Mashṭūb came out, bowed, and al-Muʿaẓẓam said, “Mount up so we may talk.” The man mounted, and they conversed until they had ridden far from the camp. Then al-Muʿaẓẓam said, “Sir, these lands are yours; we would like you to present them to us.” He gave him travelling money and assigned troops to escort him to Syria. Next he equipped al-Fāʾiz to seek reinforcements from the Jazīrah army, but al-Fāʾiz died at Sinjār.
Ibn Masdī said: “He loved hadith and its scholars, was eager to memorize and transmit it, and under his patronage knowledge thrived like a marketplace stacked upon another. Shaykh Abū al-Qāsim Ibn al-Ṣafrawī compiled for him a collection of forty hadiths that a number of people heard from him.”
Makram the secretary related that his father had obtained an ijāzah for him from al-Salafī. Ibn Masdī added, “I have seen that document myself, and he granted authorization to me and to my son.”
Al-Mundhirī (1) said: “Al-Kāmil founded the Dār al-Ḥadīth in Cairo, rebuilt the dome over Imām al-Shāfiʿī’s grave, established endowments for every kind of charitable work, and is renowned for his long-standing stand in jihad at Damietta. He spent lavishly and fought the Franks by land and sea—those who were present know this. He persevered until Allah exalted Islam and humiliated unbelief.”
He venerated the Sunnah and its adherents, was keen to spread it and hold fast to it, and preferred to gather with scholars and converse with them whether at home or on campaign.
Someone said: “He was high-minded, imposing, just, perceptive, and given to investigation.”
It was reported that a mounted guard complained to him that his master had used him for six months without paying the prescribed jāmkīyah (2), so the sultan ordered the soldier