—a permanent, salaried post; the first to hold it was a man called al-Nafis al-Misri. Because of the sweetness of his voice when he recited before Shaykh Abu Mansur al-Darir al-Musdar, he was nicknamed “the Trumpet of the Mosque,” and great crowds would gather around him (1).

In Dhu al-Hijjah of that same year, several vessels sailed from Acre for the port of Damietta.

That year as well, the king of Cyprus named Ilyan—may Allah curse him—(2) slipped into the harbor by night and raided certain districts (3), killing, capturing, and plundering. He then withdrew, boarded his ships, and escaped before the pursuers could overtake him. He had carried out a similar foray earlier (4), an exploit unmatched by anyone else.

In the same year (5) the Franks wreaked havoc in the environs of Jerusalem, whereupon al-Malik al-Muʿazzam marched out against them with his troops. At that time Shaykh Shams al-Din Abu al-Muzaffar ibn Kuzughli (6) al-Hanafi—maternal grandson of Shaykh Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi through his daughter Rabiʿah and author of Mirʾat al-Zaman—began holding his sessions. Gifted in many branches of learning (7), handsome and melodious of voice, he was an eloquent preacher, and the common people loved him for the fame of his grandfather. After leaving Baghdad he settled in Damascus, where the rulers honoured him and appointed him to teach.

Every Saturday he would sit at the gate of the shrine of ʿAli ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-ʿAbidin (8), beside the pillar where preachers still sit today. The crowds around him grew extraordinarily large, stretching from Bab al-Natafaniyyin (9) to the shrine’s gate and on to Bab al-Saʿat (10), not counting those who were merely standing (11). On some days his audience was estimated (12) at thirty thousand men and women. During the summer, people would even spend Friday night—the eve of Saturday—in the great mosque, forsaking their gardens and leisure; they passed the night completing Qur’an recitations and litanies in order to secure a place for his session at the appointed time (13).