Judge Sharaf al-Din Ismaʿil b. Ibrahim (1) was one of the leading Hanafi shaykhs. He authored works on the laws of inheritance and other subjects. A maternal cousin of Judge Shams al-Din b. al-Shirazi (2) the Shafiʿi, both of them would deputize for Ibn al-Zaki (3) and Ibn al-Harastani (4). He lectured at the Tarkhaniyya (5) madrasa, where he also resided (6).
When al-Muʿaẓẓam sent to request a fatwa permitting date-wine (nabīd al-tamr) and pomegranate juice, he refused, saying, “In this matter I follow the view of Muhammad b. al-Hasan; the report from Abu Hanifah is anomalous, the hadith attributed to Ibn Masʿud is not sound, and the athar ascribed to ʿUmar (7) is likewise unreliable.” Al-Muʿaẓẓam grew angry, dismissed him from his post, and handed it to his student al-Zayn b. al-ʿAttal (8). The shaykh then remained in his home until he passed away—may Allah have mercy on him.
Abu Shamah (9) said: “In this same year there died (10) several rulers—among them al-Mughīth b. al-Mughīth b. al-ʿĀdil, al-ʿAzīz ʿUthmān b. al-ʿĀdil, and Muẓaffar al-Din, lord of Irbil.”
I say: As for the lord of Irbil, he is:
(1) Biography of al-Qāḍī Sharaf al-Dīn in Mirʾāt al-Zamān (vol. 8, p. 446), Takmila al-Mundhirī (vol. 3, p. 309), Dhayl al-Rawdatayn (p. 161), Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 13, p. 879), al-Jawāhir al-Māḍiya (vol. 1, p. 389), al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 6, pp. 278–79), Taj al-Tarājim (ed. al-Ṣiddīq al-ʿAzīz, Ibrāhīm al-Ṣāliḥ, p. 61), al-Ṭabaqāt al-Sunniyya (vol. 2, p. 173) and Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (vol. 7, p. 228). In these sources al-Qāḍī Sharaf al-Dīn is identified as Ibn al-Mawsilī, and most record his death in 629 AH.
(2) The biography of Shams al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī will appear in the obituaries for 635 AH.
(3) The biography of Ibn al-Zakī will appear in the obituaries for 668 AH.
(4) The biography of Ibn al-Ḥarshtānī will appear in the obituaries for 662 AH.
(5) The al-Turkhāniyya Madrasa lies south of the Badr al-Dīn al-Badriyya Madrasa in Jirūn. Founded by Nāṣir al-Dīn ibn Ṭarkhān (d. 520 AH), it was one of the Hanafi schools in Damascus. Badrān writes that its inscriptions have been effaced and its ruins obliterated by time, and it has become a residential building passed from owner to owner. Sources: al-ʿAlāq al-Khaṭīra (p. 201), al-Dāris (vol. 1, p. 539), Mukhtaṣar Tanbīh al-Ṭālib (pp. 94–95), Munādamat al-Aṭlāl (pp. 179–80).
(6) In manuscripts A and B: “his residence.”
(7) In manuscripts A and B: “Ibn ʿUmar,” and the incident is recorded in al-Jawāhir al-Māḍiya as occurring with Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ghāzī. It also appears in Mirʾāt al-Zamān, Taj al-Tarājim and Munādamat al-Aṭlāl.
(8) Al-Subkī reports that he composed several works, including a treatise on inheritance which he read. The author’s name varies: Mirʾāt al-Zamān gives Zayn al-ʿIyāl; al-Jawāhir al-Māḍiya, Muhammad ibn al-ʿAttāl (with al-Qittāl in another copy); Tanbīh al-Ṭālib, Zayn al-Dīn al-Fittāl; Munādamat al-Aṭlāl, Muhammad ibn al-Baqqāl. No consensus emerges. Bashār notes that al-Mundhirī’s Takmila includes a biography of a member of the al-ʿAttāl family (vol. 3, p. 72), perhaps indicating a relation. Cf. Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 13, p. 579).
(9) Dhayl al-Rawdatayn (p. 161).
(10) In the printed edition: “and he died in this year.”