He was the first to hold the Hanbalī judgeship in Damascus; he later resigned from it, whereupon his son Najm al-Dīn (1) succeeded him, as well as taking over the Ashrafiyya teaching chair (2) on the mountain. He had heard an immense amount of hadith and was, in his time, one of the foremost scholars—indeed, among the most devout and trustworthy—distinguished by upright conduct, fine demeanor, humility, and dignified composure. He died on the night of Tuesday, the very last day of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir of this year, at the age of eighty-five, and was buried in his father’s cemetery (may Allah be pleased with them).
Ibn Jaʿwān (3): the erudite scholar Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbās ibn Jaʿwān al-Anṣārī al-Dimashqī, a muhaddith and Shāfiʿī jurist, outstanding in grammar and philology.
I heard our shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (4) Ibn Taymiyya and our ḥadith master Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī (5), each say to the other: “This man recited the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad (6) in our presence, and we did not detect a single mutually agreed-upon grammatical slip.” Praise from these two—and they are who they are (7)—is praise indeed.
The preacher Muḥyī al-Dīn (8) Yaḥyā, son of the Chief Judge ʿImād al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Karīm, son of the Chief Judge Jamāl al-Dīn ibn al-Harastānī al-Shāfiʿī, served as the Friday preacher of Damascus and instructor at the Ghazāliyya. A gifted scholar, he issued fatwas, taught, and inherited both the pulpit and the Ghazāliyya professorship from his father. The deputy of the Sultanate and a great multitude attended his funeral. He died (9) in Jumādā al-Ākhira at the age of sixty-eight and was buried on Mount Qāsiyūn.
(1) Biographical note: Najm al-Dīn al-Qāḍī. The biography of Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿUmar, known as Najm al-Dīn, will appear in the Wafayāt for the year 689 in this volume, God willing.
(2) Biographical note: He was among the Muslim scholars and one of the most devout of his era, marked by sincere devotion (ināba) with sound guidance, noble character, humility, reverence, and dignity. He died at night.
(3) Biographical entry – Ibn Jiwān – in the supplement to Mirʾāt al-Zamān (vol. 4, pp. 197–198); Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 15, p. 483); Al-Iʿlām bi-Wafayāt al-Aʿlām (p. 285); Al-Ishāra (p. 372); Al-ʿIbar (vol. 5, p. 394); Al-Wāfī (vol. 1, p. 203); Ṭabaqāt al-Isnawī (p. 380); Al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 7, p. 360); Al-Dalīl al-Shāfī (vol. 2, p. 687); Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (vol. 7, p. 664). In some editions his name appears as “Ibn Abī Jifwān”; this error has been corrected here based on manuscripts A, B, and other sources.
(4) Biographical note: Our Shaykh, Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn.
(5) Biographical note: Al-Mizzī. The biography of al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mizzī will appear in the Wafayāt for the year 742 in the next and final volume.
(6) Biographical note: This man studied the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.
(7) Biographical note: Besides these two scholars, others praised him similarly. Bashshār said: “And al-Dhahabī remarked, ‘He recited the Musnad to Ibn ʿAllān with a level of eloquence and precision never before heard. A gathering of imams was present, yet not one could find a single slip in his reading.’”
(8) Biographical entry – Ibn al-Ḥarsṭānī – in the supplement to Mirʾāt al-Zamān (vol. 4, pp. 196–197); Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 15, p. 481); Al-ʿIbar (vol. 5, p. 340); Ṭabaqāt al-Isnawī (p. 447); Al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 7, p. 360); Al-Dalīl al-Shāfī (vol. 2, p. 776); Al-Dāris (vol. 1, pp. 421–422); Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (vol. 7, p. 663). In all these sources except Al-Dalīl al-Shāfī his name appears as Muḥammad rather than Yaḥyā.
(9) Biographical note: And he died.