A pious and accomplished scholar, he resided in Aleppo for a time, then passed through Damascus on his way to Egypt. He was subsequently appointed (1) overseer of Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliyya after Zaki al-Din ‘Abd al-‘Azim al-Mundhiri (2). He enjoyed sound hadith audition in Baghdad and other lands, and had passed his seventieth year (3).

al-Qabbari (4) — the righteous shaykh Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Yahya, Abu al-Qasim al-Qabbari of Alexandria. He lived on a small plot of land from whose yield he supported himself; he tilled it, sowed it, observed great scrupulousness, and fed others from its produce. He died on the sixth of Sha‘ban of this year in Alexandria at the age of seventy-five. He commanded what is right, forbade what is wrong, and restrained the governors from injustice; they heeded and obeyed him because of his asceticism. When people came to visit, he would speak to them only through a small aperture in his home, and they were content with that.

Among the unusual tales told of him is that he once sold an animal to a man. A few days later the purchaser returned and said, “Master, the beast I bought from you eats nothing in my care.” The shaykh looked at him and asked, “What is your line of work?” (5) He replied, “I am a courier (raqqās) for the governor.” The shaykh said, “Our beast does not eat the unlawful.” He then went inside and handed the man some dirhams together with many other coins that had become mixed with them so that they could not be distinguished (6). People bought every one of those dirhams from the courier for three, seeking their blessing, and the shaykh resumed ownership of his mount. When he died he left household effects (7) worth no more than fifty dirhams, yet they were sold (8) for the sum of twenty thousand.

Abu Shamah (9) said: On the twenty-eighth of Ramadan there passed away Muhyi al-Din ‘Abd Allah (10) ibn Safi al-Din Ibrahim ibn Marzuq at his house in Damascus, adjacent to the Nuri Madrasa—may Allah Most High have mercy on him.