In this same year (1) a fitnah (religious turmoil) broke out in Damascus because of the ḥadith-scholar al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī. He had been speaking in the Hanbali gallery of the Umayyad Mosque and, on one occasion, touched on certain points of creed. The judge Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-Zakī and Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn, the khaṭīb of al-Dawlaʿī, met with the Sultan al-Muʿaẓẓam and the amir Ṣārim al-Dīn Buzghash; a council was convened to examine him on the issues of istiwāʾ over the Throne, the Divine descent, and whether the Qur’an consists of letter and sound. Najm al-Dīn the Hanbali sided with the other jurists, whereas the Ḥāfiẓ held fast to his position and would not retract. The rest of the scholars gathered against him and pressed upon him reprehensible demands to which he would not agree,

until the amir Buzghash said to him, “Are all these people astray while you alone are upon the truth?”
He replied, “Yes.”
The amir grew angry and at once ordered him banished from the city. [He asked for a three-day reprieve, and it was granted] (2). Buzghash then released the prisoners from the Citadel; they smashed the Ḥāfiẓ’s pulpit (3), the Ẓuhr prayer was suspended that day in the Hanbali miḥrāb, the cupboards and chests kept there were hauled out, and a fierce uproar ensued—we seek refuge with Allah from trials, both open and hidden. The council had been held on Monday, the twenty-fourth of Dhū’l-Ḥijjah. Al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī departed for Baalbek, then continued on to Egypt (4). The millers (5) there sheltered him, took pity on him, and treated him generously.

Among the notable figures who died [in this same year] (6) were:

The great amir (7) Mujāhid al-Dīn Qaymāz (8) al-Rūmī (9), deputy of Mosul and ruler of its dominion during the days of his master’s son, Nūr al-Dīn Arslān. Intelligent, quick-witted, and a jurist of the Ḥanafī school—though some said Shāfiʿī—he had memorised a large (10) body of historical accounts and anecdotes. He built several mosques, madrasahs, ribāṭs, and caravanserais, and maintained abundant, ever-flowing charitable endowments. Ibn al-Athīr (11) said of him: “He was one of the adornments of the world.”

Abū’l-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAlī ibn Sulaymān ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Hāshimī (12).