, reserved in conduct, wholly devoted to study, and without peer in his age. He did, however, depart from his own principles on one matter—the Raghaʾib Prayer—which he endorsed and championed even though its hadith is unquestionably spurious; still, he produced many sound rulings and possessed numerous virtues.

Among his legal opinions is that, when asked about people who occupy themselves with logic and philosophy, he answered: “Philosophy is the root of foolishness and moral dissolution, the very source of bewilderment and misguidance, and the breeding ground of deviation and heresy. Whoever philosophizes will have his inner sight veiled from the beauties of the Sacred Law, which is supported by incontrovertible proofs; whoever takes it up will find himself accompanied by humiliation and deprivation, Satan will seize control of him, and his heart will be darkened to the prophethood of Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—until he went on to say:

‘To employ logical terminology in discussions of the rulings of the Sacred Law ranks among the most repulsive of censured innovations, a newly contrived patchwork. Praise be to Allah, the rulings of the Sacred Law have no need whatsoever of logic; it is nothing but empty clatter from which every sound mind has been spared by Allah. It is therefore incumbent upon the Sultan—may Allah exalt him—to shield the Muslims from the evil of these ill-omened individuals, to expel them from the madrasahs, and to banish them.’

Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn—may Allah have mercy on him—passed away in the year of the Khwarazmian siege, at dawn on Wednesday, the twenty-fifth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 643 AH. He was borne aloft on the people’s shoulders, crowds pressing around his bier, an atmosphere of awe and humility surrounding the funeral. The prayer over him was offered in the Great Mosque of Damascus; he was then escorted inside Bāb al-Faraj, where the prayer was offered a second time. The people thereafter returned to the siege lines of Damascus, then encircled by the Khwarazmians and by the army of al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb against his uncle al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl. About ten men, sleeves rolled up, carried his bier out and buried him in the Ṣūfiyyah cemetery.