He also recorded that when a sheep was slaughtered in their region, its meat was found to be bitter—even the head and the shanks.
Among the notable figures who died that year, after the Caliph al-Ẓāhir as mentioned above, was al-Jamāl al-Miṣrī (1) Yūnus ibn Badrān ibn Fayrūz, known as Jamāl al-Dīn al-Miṣrī, who was then the Chief Judge of Damascus. He applied himself to study, mastered its disciplines, and excelled. He produced an abridgement of al-Umm by Imām al-Shāfiʿī and authored a lengthy work on farāʾiḍ (the laws of inheritance). After Taqī Ṣāliḥ al-Ḍarīr (2)—who took his own life—he was appointed by the vizier Ṣafī al-Dīn ibn Shukr to teach at the Amīniyyah, a post the vizier supervised with great care. He was later placed in charge of the Public Treasury in Damascus, corresponded with kings and caliphs on behalf of its ruler, and was subsequently made Chief Judge there by al-Muʿaẓẓam (3) after the dismissal of al-Zakī ibn al-Zakī. When the Great ʿĀdiliyyah was completed he was given its professorial chair, becoming the first to lecture there while the leading dignitaries (4) attended, as we have noted. He would begin with a lesson in Qurʾanic exegesis, continuing until he completed the entire commentary, and would follow it with a lesson in jurisprudence; he died soon afterwards.
His method of authenticating legal records was exemplary. Every Friday morning and every Tuesday he sat in the īwān of the ʿĀdiliyyah and summoned all the witnesses of the city. Anyone seeking to certify a document would appear, call his witnesses, they would testify before the judge, and the deed would be confirmed without delay. Each Friday after the ʿAṣr prayer he sat at the Shubbāk al-Kamāl by the Mausoleum of ʿUthmān, judging cases until Maghrib, and sometimes until ʿIshāʾ. He was devoted to scholarly discussion, constantly occupied with learning, and possessed a commendable manner; no one accused him of accepting anything for anyone.
Abū Shāmah (5) observes that the only criticisms directed at him were that he advised certain heirs to settle with the Public Treasury and that he deputized his son al-Tāj Muḥammad, whose conduct was not considered acceptable. As for Jamāl al-Dīn himself, he was personally chaste, upright, and held in awe.
Abū Shāmah (6) further relates that he claimed descent from the Qurashī Shaybī line, for which people reproached him. After his death the judiciary passed to Shams al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn al-Khalīl al-Khawiyī (7).