the people were standing at ʿArafāt around midday (1) when one of them came upon a relative of the Emir of Mecca, Qatādah (2) al-Ḥusaynī, and killed him, imagining that he had struck down Qatādah himself. A great fitnah then flared up between the Sudan of Mecca (3) and the Iraqi caravan; the caravan was plundered and many of its members were slain.
In that same year al-Malik al-Ashraf (5) purchased (4) the chief palace—al-Jawsuq al-Raʾīs (6) at al-Nayrab—from his cousin (7) al-Zāhir Khidr (8) ibn Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, and rebuilt it with fine workmanship. In our own day it is called al-Dahsha (9).
Among the notable deaths that year (10) was Shaykh ʿImād al-Dīn (11) Muḥammad ibn Yūnus, the Shāfiʿī jurist of Mosul. A prolific author in numerous fields, he was the head of the Shāfiʿīs in Mosul and, after the death of Nūr al-Dīn Arslān (12), dispatched an envoy to Baghdad. He was plagued by excessive scruples concerning ritual purity, and it is reported (13) that in financial dealings he made use of the ʿīnah transaction (14). As the saying goes, “You strain out the gnat from your drink yet swallow the camels with their burdens” (15); had he reversed the matter it would have been better for him. One day Qudayb al-Bān the Madman (16) met him and said, “O Shaykh, word has reached me that you wash [the limb
(1) In the printed edition: “lamma kanu bi-Arafat dhafar” (“when they were at Arafat, they triumphed”).
(2) The biographical entry for Qatada will appear in Wafayat for the year 617 in this volume, God willing.
(3) In the manuscript: “sud” (black).
(4) In the printed edition: “wa fiha ishtara” (“and there he bought”), and the account is in the appendix of al-Rawdatayn (p. 78).
(5) The biographical entry of al-Ashr will appear in Wafayat for the year 635.
(6) “al-jawsq”: the palace. See al-Qamus and al-Taj under “jasq.”
(7) In the printed edition: “amm” (uncle).
(8) Khidr ibn Salah al-Din died in 627 AH; see Tarwih al-Qulub (p. 94).
(9) al-Dahsha was the finest of the ruined orchards of Damascus. It was the garden of Ibn al-Nashw on the Nuri slope near al-Rawba; there, Taj al-Din al-Subki composed his famous Jam‘ al-Jawami‘. See Ghuta Dimashq (p. 186).
(10) In the printed edition: “wa fiha tawaffa min al-uyan” (“and there a notable figure died”).
(11) The biographical entry for Shaykh Imad al-Din al-Mawsili appears in Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh (vol. 9, p. 206); Mirat al-Zaman (vol. 8, p. 558); Zayl al-Rawdatayn (p. 80); Al-Takmila li-Wafayat al-Naqqala (vol. 2, p. 226); Wafayat al-Ayan (vol. 4, p. 253); Tarikh al-Islam (vol. 13, p. 200); Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala‘ (vol. 21, p. 498); Al-Jar (vol. 5, p. 28); Tabaqat al-Subki (vol. 5, p. 45); Shudhur al-Dhahab (vol. 7, p. 63).
(12) His biographical entry was already given in Wafayat (p. 607).
(13) In the printed edition: “wa kana yu‘amil” (“and he was treated”).
(14) al-’ayna denotes the sale of a commodity on deferred payment which the seller then repurchases from the buyer before settling payment at a lower cash price. See Al-Qamus al-Fiqhi: Language and Technical Terms (p. 270).
(15) A variant reads “tashtartun,” but the correct reading is likely “tastartibun” (“you deem it lawful”).
(16) In the printed edition: “al-mukah”; this is a corruption.