the Muʿaẓẓamī, compensating him for it; he then returned to Egypt, aided and victorious, his spirits lifted and his happiness complete. All of this occurred in the following year. ⦗1⦘

In that same year a momentous battle took place between the caliph’s army and the Tatars—may Allah curse them. The Muslims dealt them a crushing defeat, scattering their forces so that they fled headlong ⦗2⦘. Yet the Muslims did not overtake or pursue them, wary of their treachery and in keeping with the Messenger’s ﷺ words: “Leave the Turks alone so long as they leave you alone.” ⦗3⦘

During this year as well, in the land of Khuzistan, there appeared on the flank of a mountain, within its very side, buildings so strange and wondrous that the beholder is left bewildered ⦗4⦘. It has been said that they were erected by the jinn, and Ibn al-Saʿī has recorded their description in his History. ⦗5⦘

Among the notable figures who died this year was Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Abū ʿAmr ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUthmān—the eminent imām, scholar, Mufti and chief muhaddith of Syria, Abū ʿAmr ibn al-Ṣalāḥ al-Shahrazūrī, later of Damascus. ⦗6⦘

He heard hadith in the eastern lands and pursued legal studies there in Mosul, Aleppo, and elsewhere. His father had been a professor at the Asadiyya school in Aleppo, endowed by Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh ibn Shādhī. Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ came to Syria ⦗7⦘ counted among the leading scholars. He resided for a time in the Noble Jerusalem ⦗8⦘ and taught at the Ṣalāḥiyya, after which he moved to Damascus, where he taught first ⦗9⦘ at the Rawāḥiyya, then at the Ashrafiyya Dār al-Ḥadīth. He was the first hadith master to direct that institution and he authored the treatise establishing its waqf. Later he taught at the Shāmiyya Junāniyya ⦗10⦘. He composed many valuable works in the sciences of hadith and fiqh ⦗11⦘, along with fine annotations ⦗12⦘ on al-Wasīṭ and other texts—treasures for which students journey from afar.