where he lectured at the Ṣādiriyya and at the Muqaddamiyya (1); he was later appointed Chief Judge of the Ḥanafīs, and his conduct in judicial matters was widely praised. He was twelve (2) years old when that fire in Ḥijāz broke out—an age at which one of his discernment can accurately retain what he hears—so the Bedouin related the event to his father during those very nights. May (3) Allah’s blessings and peace be upon His Prophet, our master Muḥammad, his family, and his Companions in profusion.

Among the verses composed about this Ḥijāzī fire and the flooding of Baghdad in Iraq are the following (4) — set in the metre al-munsariḥ:

Glory be to Him whose sovereign will
Moves through mankind in measured decree:
He drowned Baghdad beneath the waters
And burned the land of Ḥijāz with fire.

Abū Shāma remarked: The correct wording should be:

In one year He drowned the realm of Iraq,
And burned the land of Ḥijāz with fire.

Ibn al-Sāʿī writes, in his chronicle for the year 654 AH:

“On Friday, the eighteenth of Rajab of that same year, I was sitting (5) before the vizier when a letter arrived from the City of the Messenger (6) ﷺ, carried by a courier named Qaymaz al-ʿAlawī al-Ḥasanī al-Madanī. He handed over the letter (7), and the vizier read it. It reported that the City of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was rocked by an earthquake on Tuesday, the second of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, until the Noble Prophetic Tomb (8) quivered, the screech of iron was heard, the chains rattled, and a fire appeared about four farsakhs from the city, hurling sparks as huge as (9) mountain peaks; it lasted for fifteen days.

The courier said: ‘I arrived while it had not yet abated; it remained just as it was.’ He was asked, ‘In which direction is it flinging its debris?’ He replied, ‘Toward the east. I passed by it with the swift couriers from Yemen; we threw a palm frond into it, but it did not burn, whereas it consumed the stones and melted them.’ Qaymaz then produced a piece of the burned rock: it was coal-black, both in color and in lightness.

He continued: ‘The letter, written in the hand of the judge of Madinah, stated that when the quake struck the people entered the Sacred Precinct, uncovered their heads, and asked forgiveness; that the deputy governor of the city manumitted all his slaves and renounced every wrongful exaction; and that they continued…’