He arrived in Damascus (1) sometime after 650 AH; there he debated the jurists, his virtues became renowned, he listened to hadith, and he wrote a commentary on al-Razi’s al-Mahsul. He also authored al-Qawaʿid (“The Principles”) in four branches: the principles of jurisprudence, the principles of creed, logic, and disputation. He was well versed in logic, grammar, and literature. Later he travelled to Egypt, lecturing in the shrine of al-Husayn, the mausoleum of al-Shafiʿi, and other venues, and students journeyed to him. He passed away in Cairo on the twentieth of Rajab at the age of seventy-two.

Shams Muhammad, son of al-ʿAfif (2) Sulayman ibn ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAli al-Tilmisani, was a consummate poet.

He died during his father’s lifetime, a loss that caused the latter profound sorrow; the father composed many elegies for him. He died on Wednesday, the fourteenth of Rajab. The funeral prayer was held in the congregational mosque, and he was buried in the Ṣufiyya cemetery. Among the choicest of his poetry is the following (3):

from the ṭawīl metre
His teeth are stars encircling his full-moon face;
upon the necklace of beauty they gleam like rare pearls.
How often his slender waist arches, though wasted with thinness,
how often his cool-lipped smile ascends in radiant grace.

He also composed verses condemning hashish:

from the basīṭ metre
Hashish bestows no virtue on the one who eats it,
for he is never steered toward sound conduct.
His face turns yellow, his mouth goes green,
his eyes redden, and his liver grows black (4).

Another piece of his poetry (5):

from the ṭawīl metre
His face appeared above cheeks grown hollow,
while black tresses shone in the dim night’s wing.
I said, “Strange indeed that darkness has not vanished
when the sun of day has risen upon a spear-tip!”

And from a set of lines in the mujazūʾ al-kāmil metre:
In my eyes you and the supple branch
stand upon equal ground.