He was a devout, virtuous shaykh, gifted in the science of juristic disputation (ʿilm al-khilāf), and had memorised al-Jamʿ bayna al-Ṣaḥīḥayn by al-Ḥumaydī. Modest and of fine character, he travelled through many lands in search of knowledge (1) before settling in Damascus. There he taught at the ʿAdrawiyya (2), the Ṣārmiyya, the Shāmiyya al-Jawāniyya, and the Umm al-Ṣāliḥ madrasas, and he served as deputy judge on behalf of several qāḍīs until he died in that city while acting for al-Rafīʿ (3) al-Jīlī. His death occurred on Friday, the sixth of Shawwal, and he was buried on Mount Qāsiyūn.

Yāqūt ibn ʿAbd Allāh Amīn al-Dīn al-Rūmī (4)

He was connected to the household of the Atabaks and came to Baghdad with an envoy of the ruler of Mosul, Luʾluʾ. Ibn al-Sāʿī said: “I met (5) him when he was a cultured, virtuous young man. His handwriting was of the highest quality, and he composed fine poetry. I later transmitted some of his verses from him.” He added: “He died in Jumāda al-Ākhira while in prison.”

[Then the year 639 AH began]

In that year:

al-Malik al-Jawād set out for Egypt (6) intending to enter the service of al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb. When he reached al-Ramla (7), al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb grew suspicious of him and dispatched Kamāl al-Dīn Ibn al-Shaykh to arrest him. al-Jawād turned back and sought the protection of al-Nāṣir Dāʾūd, who was then in the Holy City of Jerusalem; al-Nāṣir sent (8) an army with him. They encountered Ibn al-Shaykh, defeated him, and took him captive. Al-Nāṣir Dāʾūd rebuked the prisoner and then released him.

al-Jawād remained in al-Nāṣir’s service until the latter likewise became suspicious (9) of him; he put him in fetters and sent him under guard to Baghdad. A clan of Arabs who recognised him (10) freed him, whereupon he sought refuge for a time with the ruler of Damascus, then went over to the Franks, and later returned to Damascus. There al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl imprisoned him at ʿIzzatā until he died in the year 641 AH, as will be mentioned.

Also in that year:

al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb began constructing madrasas in Egypt and built a citadel on the island, expending a vast sum from the public treasury. He seized people’s properties, demolished a little over thirty mosques, and cut down a thousand date-palms. Then the Turks destroyed it in the year