Rajab (1) of that same year, where he relates that he was struck by an ordeal in his house at Ṭawāḥīn al-Ashnān. Those who eventually killed him had already come once before and beaten him so that he might die, yet he survived. He was asked, “Will you not lodge a complaint against them?” He would not, and he recited (2):

[from the sarīʿ metre]
I said to the one who asked, “Will you not complain?”—
The blow that has fallen is enormous and grave.
Allah will appoint for us
One who will seize our right and cool our rage.
If we rely on Him, He suffices—
Allah is enough for us, and what an excellent Guardian. (3)

It seems they returned a second time while he was in that same house and killed him outright on the night of Tuesday, the nineteenth of Ramaḍān (4) (may Allah have mercy on him). He was buried that very day in the cemetery of Bāb al-Farādīs (5). After him, the post of shaykh at the Ashrafiyya Ḥadīth College was assumed by Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī (6).

[The Birth of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Barzalī]

In this year the ḥāfiẓ ʿAlam al-Dīn al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Barzalī (7) was born. Because his birth coincided with Abū Shāma’s death, he produced a continuation of Abū Shāma’s chronicle, following his footsteps, adopting his method, arranging the material as he had done, and refining its style. Verses are also recited in his biography (8):

[from the basīṭ metre]
You kept on writing history with tireless zeal
Until I saw you yourself recorded in that history.

It is likewise fitting to recite here the poet’s words:

[from the ṭawīl metre]
Whenever a master from among us departs,
Another master rises—eloquent in speech, resolute in deed.

[Then came the year 666 AH]

This year opened while the ʿAbbāsid caliph was al-Ḥākim (9), and the sovereign of the lands was al-Malik al-Ẓāhir. At the beginning of Jumādā