—the shaykh of the madhhab and a benefactor to its adherents. He left behind a number (1) of fine works, among them al-Tafsīr (Qurʾanic Exegesis); Mukhtaṣar al-Nihāya (Abridgment of al-Nihāya); al-Qawāʿid al-Kubrá wa’l-Ṣughrá (Major and Minor Legal Maxims); the Book of Ṣalāh (Prayer); al-Fatāwá al-Mawṣiliyya (The Mosul Legal Opinions); and other writings besides.
He was born in 577 or 578 AH, heard a great deal of ḥadīth, and studied under Shaykh Fakhr al-Dīn ibn ʿAsākir (2) and others, excelling in the madhhab. He mastered many branches of knowledge, benefited students, taught in several madrasahs in Damascus, and was appointed its Friday preacher. Thereafter he travelled to Egypt, where he taught (3), preached, and issued judgments. Leadership of the madhhab (4) eventually rested with him, and people from distant lands sought his legal opinions. He was gracious and witty, often adducing lines of poetry as evidence.
The cause of his departure from Syria was his public denunciation of al-Ṣāliḥ (5) Ismāʿīl for handing over Ṣafad and al-Shaqīf to the Franks (6). Shaykh Abū ʿAmr Ibn al-Ḥājib (7), the Mālikī jurist, supported him, whereupon al-Ṣāliḥ expelled them both. Abū ʿAmr went to al-Nāṣir Dāwud, lord of al-Karak, who honoured him, while Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām (8) made his way to King al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb [son of al-Kāmil] (9), ruler of Egypt, who likewise honoured him (10). He appointed him judge of Egypt and Friday preacher of the Old Mosque, then later removed those two posts but confirmed him as professor at the Ṣalāḥiyyah. When death drew near, he entrusted that chair to Judge Tāj al-Dīn Ibn Bint al-Aʿazz (11).
He passed away on the tenth of Jumādá al-Úlá (12), slightly past the age of eighty. He was buried the next day at the foot of al-Muqaṭṭam, and Sultan al-Ẓāhir, along with a great multitude, attended his funeral—may Allah Most High have mercy on him (13).
Kamal al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿAdīm (14) al-Ḥanafī: ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allah ibn Muḥammad ibn Hibat Allah ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá ibn Zuhayr ibn Hārūn ibn Mūsá ibn ʿĪsá ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Jarādah ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah ibn Khuwailid ibn