Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām (1) said, “I have never seen anyone more versed in jurisprudence than Ibn al-Harastānī; he had memorised al-Ghazālī’s al-Wasīṭ. Many others likewise affirmed that he was among the most equitable of judges and the staunchest in establishing the truth; no blame in Allah’s cause could sway him.

His son ʿImād al-Dīn used to deliver the Friday sermon in the Great Mosque of Damascus and, acting in his father’s stead, held the professorial chair at the Ashrafiyya. Judge Jamāl al-Dīn would convene court sessions in his own Mujāhidiyya madrasa, and—because of his advanced age—the sultan sent him a portable dais (ṭarāḥa) and a cushioned back-rest (musnad) (2). His son would sit before him, and whenever (3) his father rose he would take his place. Later the judge removed his son from the deputyship over something he had heard about him and appointed Shams al-Dīn ibn al-Shīrāzī (4) in his stead, seating him opposite him on the eastern side of the īwān. He [also] appointed Shams al-Dīn ibn Sanīyy al-Dawla (5) [and had a platform fixed for him in the south-western corner of the madrasa] (6), and he appointed Sharaf al-Dīn ibn al-Mawṣilī (7), a Ḥanafī, who sat in the miḥrāb of the madrasa.

He remained in office for two years and seven months, then he passed away (8) on Saturday, the fourth of Dhu al-Ḥijja [of that same year], at the age of (9) ninety-five. The funeral prayer was held for him in the Great Mosque of Damascus, and he was buried at the foot of Mount Qāsiyūn (10).

The eminent amir Badr al-Dīn (11) Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Hakkārī, builder of the madrasa in Jerusalem, was one of the noblest of commanders. Muḥammad continually yearned for martyrdom, and the Franks killed him (12) this year at the fortress of al-Ṭūr; his body was carried to the Holy City of Jerusalem and he was buried in the Mamilla cemetery. His grave is visited to this day (13) (may Allah have mercy on him).

[Another figure:] the valiant Maḥmūd, known as Ibn al-Dimāʿ (14).