The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—then set about disseminating knowledge in Cairo. People read to him, sought his legal opinions, and he answered them both orally and in writing. He continued in this manner until he returned to Damascus on the first of Dhu al-Qaʿdah 712 AH, accompanied by his two brothers and a number of his companions; his absence from the city had lasted seven years and seven Fridays. (1)

Once he had reached Damascus and settled there, he resumed his scholarly activity: authoring books, issuing legal opinions verbally and through extensive written replies, benefiting the people, treating them kindly, and striving diligently in matters of sacred law. Thus he—may Allah have mercy on him—would give a fatwa only on the basis of evidence that, in his view, was conclusive. (2)

In the middle of Rabiʿ al-Akhir 718 AH, the Hanbali judge Shams al-Din ibn Muslim advised the Shaykh to refrain from issuing fatwas on the question of an oath contingent upon divorce. The Shaykh accepted the counsel, acknowledged his sincerity, and complied.

At the beginning of Jumada al-Ula of that same year, a royal letter arrived forbidding the Shaykh to issue fatwas on this matter. He abstained for a time but then resumed, saying, “I cannot withhold knowledge.”

In Ramadan of the same year, the judges and jurists assembled with the Sultan’s deputy at Dar al-Saʿadah. The Shaykh was brought in, reproached for issuing fatwas after the prohibition, and the ban was reaffirmed.

In Rajab 720 AH, the judges, jurists, and a group of muftis gathered once more at Dar al-Saʿadah. The Shaykh attended; they revisited the matter of his fatwas on divorce, rebuked him for persisting, and confined him in the Citadel, where he remained for five months and eighteen days.

A decree ordering his release was then issued on the Day of ʿAshura, 721 AH.