and the additional techniques of Asʿad al-Mīhanī. (1) He then moved to the Levant, where he dedicated himself to the rational sciences; after that he travelled to Egypt (2), resumed teaching in the Shāfiʿī School (3) at the Lesser Qarafah (4), and took the chair in the Ẓāfirī Mosque. There (5) his scholarship became famous and his virtues widely known. Some people grew jealous of him, plotted against him, and signed their names to charges that he espoused the doctrines of the ancient philosophers, upheld negation, and had become lax in religion. They asked one of their number to endorse their claim, but he wrote instead:
[From al-Kāmil]
They envied the youth because they could not reach his striving;
Thus the people are his enemies and adversaries. (6)
Sayf al-Dīn then withdrew to Ḥamāh and later moved to Damascus, where he lectured at the ʿAzīziyyah. He was afterwards dismissed and remained in his home until he died this year at the age of eighty—may Allah have mercy on him and forgive him.
The Endower of the Rukniyyah (8)
[Concerning the Ḥanafīs] The amir Rukn al-Dīn Minkurus, (9) a Ḥanafī and an astronomer, the freedman of Falak al-Dīn (10), the maternal half-brother of al-Malik al-ʿĀdil, (11) endowed the Falakiyyah as previously described. He was among the best of the amirs: every night at the pre-dawn hour he would go down to the congregational mosque (12) alone, accompanied only by a torch-bearer, (13) and he was constant in attending the prayers there with the congregation. He was a man of few words and much
(1) The entry for Asʿad al-Mihyani was previously given under the events of 527 AH in the preceding volume.
(2) In manuscripts A and B: “He then relocated to Damascus and subsequently to Egypt.”
(3) The printed edition reads “at the Shafi‘i school,” echoing Ibn Khallikan’s wording; he then resumed teaching at the school adjacent to Imam al-Shafi‘i’s mausoleum.
(4) This reading occurs only in the printed edition.
(5) A supplement to al-Dhahabi’s Wafayat al-Ayan.
(6) In manuscripts A and B: “and the people.”
(7) In manuscripts A and B: “and Shaykh Saif al-Din moved.”
(8) In a marginal note on Tarikh al-Salihiyya (p. 51), Shaykh Dahman (d. 1273/1857) states that the Rukni School still stands in the center of the Kurdish quarter, retaining its original layout; its northern façade, visible from the road with Kufic bands, enhances its beauty. He adds that it now stands behind the Abu al-Nur Mosque at a three-way junction, giving its name to Hayy Rukn al-Din (the Kurdish quarter).
(9) Biography of Rukn al-Din Manqurus in Mir’at al-Zaman 8:692; Tarikh al-Islam 14:60; al-Daris 1:253, 519–520; Mukhtasar Tanbih al-Talib, p. 89; Tarikh al-Salihiyya, pp. 49–52; Shudhurr al-Dhahab 7:257–258; and Munadamat al-Atlali, p. 171.
(10) Fakhr al-Din Sulayman ibn Shiruwah ibn Habadhar: his entry appears under the deaths for 599 AH in the preceding volume.
(11) The printed edition reads “li’annahu” (“because”), which is a scribal distortion.
(12) In manuscript A: “al-jawami‘” (mosques).
(13) Tawwafah: a handheld lamp or lantern used at night (marginal note in Tarikh al-Salihiyya, p. 49).