On the fifth of Rajab the grand amir, king of the Arabs of the Āl Mirā clan, (1) Aḥmad ibn Ḥijjī, passed away in the city of Buṣrā, and the funeral prayer in absentia was held for him in Damascus.
The shaykh, imām, and scholar Shihāb al-Dīn (2) ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm—the son of the learned imām, the eminent scholar Majd al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Salām (3) ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Qāsim ibn Taymiyya al-Ḥarrānī, and the father of our illustrious master, the polymath Taqī al-Dīn ibn Taymiyya, jurist of the sects and the one who distinguishes among them—also died.
He possessed upright virtue and many praiseworthy qualities. He held a teaching chair in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, speaking extemporaneously, and he was appointed shaykh of the Dār al-Ḥadīth al-Sukkarīyya (4) in the Qassāʿīn quarter, where he also lived. In the following year, as will be mentioned, his son Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (6) assumed that post after him. He was buried in the Ṣūfī cemetery—may Allah have mercy on him.
[Then the year 683 AH began.]
On Monday, the second of Muḥarram (7) of that year, the shaykh, the erudite imām, the eminent scholar Taqī al-Dīn (8) Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Taymiyya al-Ḥarrānī delivered a lesson at the Dār al-Ḥadīth al-Sukkarīyya in the Qassāʿīn quarter. Present were the Chief Judge Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn al-Zakī al-Shāfiʿī (9); Shaykh Tāj al-Dīn al-Fazārī (10), head of the Shāfiʿīs; Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn ibn al-Marḥal (11); and Zayn al-Dīn ibn al-Munajjā the Ḥanbalī (12). The lesson was momentous, and it was committed to writing.
(1) Biography – Aḥmad ibn Ḥajjī – in Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 15, p. 462), al-Wāfī bi’l-Wafayāt (vol. 6, p. 304), al-Nujūm (vol. 7, pp. 296, 357–358; vol. 8, p. 74), al-Dalīl al-Shāfī (vol. 1, p. 42), and al-Shudhurāt (vol. 7, pp. 656–657). Edition: Āl Muthrā; text contains corruptions.
(2) Biography – Ibn Taymiyya – in Dhayl Mir’āt al-Zamān (vol. 4, pp. 185–186), Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 15, p. 468), al-I‘lām (p. 284), al-‘Ibar (vol. 5, p. 338), al-Ishāra (p. 372), al-Wāfī bi’l-Wafayāt (vol. 18, p. 69), Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah by Ibn Rajab (vol. 2, p. 300), al-Nujūm al-Zāhirah (vol. 7, pp. 359–360), al-Dalīl al-Shāfī (vol. 1, pp. 394–395), al-Maqṣad al-Arshad (vol. 2, p. 166), al-Qalā’id al-Jawhariyyah (vol. 2, p. 426), and Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (vol. 7, pp. 656–657).
(3) A: Edition by ‘Abdullāh; text contains corruptions. I have corrected it using B and its original sources.
(4) B: The mufti of the sect was Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn; he enjoyed great virtue and possessed numerous insights.
(5) al-Dāris (vol. 1, p. 74) states: “It belongs under the chapter al-Jābiyya.” Badrān remarks: “We have found no trace of it.” Manādama al-Aṭlāl (p. 45).
(6) A: “His son is Shaykh Bahā.”
(7) B: The eighth of Muḥarram.
(8) The biography of Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya will appear in the obituaries for the year 728 in the next and final volume of this work.
(9) The biography of Bahā’ al-Dīn ibn al-Zakī will appear in the obituaries for the year 685.
(10) The biography of Tāj al-Dīn al-Fizārī will appear in the obituaries for the year 690.
(11) The biography of Zayn al-Dīn ibn al-Marḥal will appear in the obituaries for the year 691.
(12) The biography of Zayn al-Dīn ibn al-Manja will appear in the obituaries for the year 695.