and he spent most of his time in the Hijaz; wherever he went, the leading men of the town held him in high esteem. He was moderate in his affairs, and he passed away—may Allah have mercy on him—at al-Zaʿqah, between al-ʿArīsh and ad-Dārūm (1), in the middle of Rabiʿ al-Awwal of this year—may Allah have mercy on him.
• al-Mushadd (2), the poet and emir Sayf al-Din (3) ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar ibn Qizil, overseer of the Dīwān in Damascus. He was an accomplished poet with a well-known dīwān. Someone saw him after his death, asked him about his condition, and he recited:
From the ṭawīl metre:
I was borne to the grave’s narrow, constricted abode,
my dread that my sins would make me stumble therein;
But I met a Merciful, Gentle Lord whose favors
rained upon me, quenching the very fears I had nursed.
Whoever, at death’s hour, holds a good opinion of Allah’s pardon—
for such a one, pardon is surely most fitting.
• Bishārah ibn ʿAbd Allāh (4), of Armenian origin, Badr al-Din the scribe, client of Shibl al-Dawlah al-Muʿaẓẓamī. He heard hadith from al-Kindī (5) and others, wrote an elegant hand, and his patron entrusted to him the supervision of his endowments, making it hereditary in his line; to this day his descendants administer the two Shibliyyah foundations. He died in the middle of Ramadan of this year.
• The judge Tāj al-Dīn (6) Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad, son of the Chief Judge Jamāl al-Dīn al-Miṣrī. He deputized for his father and taught in the Shāmiyyah, and he composed poetry, among which are these lines:
(Doubayt)
I set my mouth upon his and sealed it with a kiss,
deliberately sipping the wine of his teeth.
He drew back and said, “You are an imām in jurisprudence;
My saliva is wine—yet with you wine is forbidden.”
• al-Malik al-Nāṣir (7) Dāwūd ibn al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā ibn al-ʿĀdil, who ruled Damascus after his father; it was later wrested from his grasp and seized.