Shaykh Abū Shāmah (1) said: “The jurist-shaykh was a large man and was accepted by the princes (2) and others. He used to wear a cap whose woollen lining was turned outward, just as his own teacher, Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Yūnīnī (3), did.
He added: ‘He wrote a piece on the miʿrāj (the Night Journey and Ascension), so I answered him with a book that I entitled Al-Wāḍiḥ al-Jalī fī al-Radd ʿalā al-Ḥanbalī. His son Qutb al-Dīn reported that he died on the nineteenth of Ramaḍān of this year at the age of eighty-eight—may Allah have mercy on him.’
Muḥammad ibn Khalīl (4) ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Badr, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the herbalist nicknamed al-Akkāl (“the eater”), was originally from Jabal Banī Hilāl. He was born at Qaṣr Ḥajjāj and resided in al-Shaghūr. He was righteous and devout, giving preference to the poor, the needy, and prisoners. He exhibited a remarkable habit: he would not eat anyone’s food unless he was paid for it. The townspeople would vie with one another to have him eat their choicest and most sumptuous dishes, but he would refuse unless they offered a handsome fee; and the more he refused (5), the more appealing he became in their eyes, [so they loved him, inclined toward him, and would bring him] (6) large amounts of sweets, roasted meats, and the like. In return he would hand back to them an ample payment in addition to what they had brought. This is most extraordinary. May Allah Most High have mercy on him and be pleased with him, by His grace and bounty. Āmīn.
Then came the year 659 AH. It began on a Monday after several days of Kanun al-Awwal (December) had passed. There was no caliph for the Muslims. The ruler of Mecca was Abū Numayy ibn Abī Saʿīd ibn ʿAlī ibn Qatādah al-Ḥasanī, sharing authority with his uncle Idrīs ibn ʿAlī; the ruler of Medina was Emir ʿIzz al-Dīn Jammaz ibn Shīḥah al-Ḥusaynī.
The ruler of Egypt and Syria (7) was the sultan al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī.
His associate over Damascus, Baʿlabakk, al-Ṣubaybah, and Banyas was ʿAlam al-Dīn Sanjar [of Aleppo], titled al-Malik al-Mujāhid.
His associate over Aleppo was Emir Ḥusām al-Dīn Lāshīn (8) al-Juqandarī al-ʿAzīzī.