his brother Harran (1), Edessa, Raqqa, Ras al-Ayn, and Saruj. Afterwards al-Kamil marched and besieged Hama. Its ruler al-Malik al-Mansur ibn Taqi al-Din ʿUmar (2) had died, entrusting authority after him to his eldest son al-Muzaffar Muhammad (3), who was married to al-Kamil’s daughter. But Hama was seized by his brother Salah al-Din Qilij Arslan, so al-Kamil invested the city until he forced him down from the citadel and handed it over to his brother al-Muzaffar Muhammad. Al-Kamil then moved on and received from his brother al-Malik al-Ashraf, as we have mentioned, the lands he had accepted in exchange for Damascus.

The people of Damascus had become preoccupied with the “sciences of the ancients” during the days of al-Malik al-Nasir Dawud, who himself pursued them; some even attributed this to a kind of moral loosening—Allah knows best. Al-Malik al-Ashraf therefore proclaimed throughout the provinces that the populace was not to engage in those studies but should devote themselves instead to Qur’anic exegesis, hadith, and jurisprudence.

Sayf al-Din al-Amidi had been a lecturer in the ʿAziziyya Madrasa; al-Ashraf dismissed him, and he remained confined to his house until he died in the year 631 AH, as will be related.

In the same year: al-Nasir Dawud added to the Chief Judge Shams al-Din ibn al-Khuwaiyy (5) the judge Muhyi al-Din (6) Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Zaki. He presided for a few days at the Shubbak, east of Bab al-Kallasa, after which the court convened in his own residence, where he shared jurisdiction with Ibn al-Khuwaiyy (7).

Among the notable deaths this year was al-Malik al-Masʿud (8) Aqsis ibn al-Kamil, ruler of Yemen. He had taken control of Mecca in 619 AH, administered justice there with excellence, expelled the Zaydis, and secured the roads and the pilgrims; yet he was personally extravagant and prone to harshness and oppression. He died in Mecca and was buried at Bab al-Maʿla.