As for Ibn Ṣaṣrā, a fresh writ confirming his judgeship was issued (1) at the recommendation of al-Manbijī, the shaykh of Jāshankīr, the ruler of Egypt. He returned to Damascus on Friday, the sixth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah, while hearts detested him and souls recoiled from him. His investiture decree was read in the Great Mosque, after which a proclamation was recited that disparaged Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn, accused him of deviant doctrine, and ordered that this denunciation be proclaimed throughout the Syrian lands, obliging the adherents of his school to repudiate him. The same took place in Egypt, where Jāshankīr and his mentor Naṣr al-Manbijī rose against him, assisted by many jurists and mendicants (2). Numerous and widespread disturbances broke out—may Allah protect us from tribulations.
The Ḥanbalīs in Egypt suffered severe and repeated humiliation, for their judge was poorly versed in knowledge and meager in scholarly resources (3); he was Shawf al-Dīn al-Ḥarrānī (4). Consequently, his followers endured all manner of disgrace, and their condition deteriorated accordingly.
In the month of Ramaḍān a letter arrived from the chief of the attendants of the Prophet’s Mosque seeking the sultan’s permission to sell a number of the sanctuary’s lamps in order to finance the construction of a minaret at the Bāb al-Salām by the purifying chamber. The sultan granted the request. Among the lamps were two of gold, each weighing one thousand dinars. These were sold, construction was begun, and Sirāj al-Dīn ʿUmar (5) was appointed both judge and preacher there, a measure that greatly displeased the Rāfiḍīs.
On Thursday, the twelfth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah, an express courier arrived from Egypt appointing Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Dāwūd al-Adhruʿī (6), a Ḥanafī, to the Ḥanafī judgeship in place of [Shams al-Dīn] ibn al-Ḥarīrī (7) [recently deposed] (8), and appointing [Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn, son of Shaykh Tāj al-Dīn] (9) al-Fazārī to the Damascus pulpit in succession to his uncle Shaykh Sharaf al-Dīn, may Allah have mercy on him (10). Both men were vested with robes of office and began their duties on Friday, the thirteenth of the month; Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn delivered an excellent sermon attended by the general public and the city’s dignitaries.
Five days later, however, he resigned from the pulpit, preferring to retain his teaching post at the Badrāʾīyah (11) when he learned that it was being sought so that it might be taken from him; thus the pulpit remained