ʿAbd al-Muḥsin ibn Ḥasan, known as al-Dimashqī (1), in place of Tāj al-Dīn Ṣāliḥ ibn Tāmir ibn Ḥāmid al-Jaʿbarī (2). He was an early migrant of long standing, possessed of many virtues—religious, God-fearing, and capable in administration. He had already held the deputy-judgeship in 657 AH, but when Ibn Ṣaṣrā was appointed he became disinclined to serve again.
On Sunday, the twentieth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, a courier arrived from Cairo with a renewed rescript for Qāḍī Shams al-Dīn al-Adhraʿī the Ḥanafī (3). The people assumed it announced Ibn al-Ḥarīrī’s appointment to the judiciary, so they accompanied the courier to the Ẓāhiriyyah to congratulate him. As usual, the crowd gathered to hear the decree read aloud. Shaykh ʿAlam al-Dīn al-Barzālī began the recitation, but when he reached the name it became clear that the document was not for Ibn al-Ḥarīrī but for al-Adhraʿī. The reader fell silent, and the assembly moved with the courier to al-Adhraʿī, leaving Ibn al-Ḥarīrī and those present abashed and dejected.
The courier also brought a letter summoning Shaykh Kamāl al-Dīn ibn al-Zamlakānī to Cairo (5). Alarmed, he and his companions feared the summons was due to his association with Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyyah. The deputy of the sultanate dealt with him gently and interceded until he was excused from appearing in Egypt—praise be to Allah.
On Thursday, the ninth of Jumādá al-Ūlá, Shaykh Burāq (6) entered Damascus accompanied by one hundred faqīrs, all of whom had shaved their beards and left their moustaches long—contrary to the Sunnah—and wore caps with horn-like protrusions of felt. They carried bells, castanets, and wooden clappers. They encamped at al-Munaybiʿ and attended the Friday prayer in the Ḥanbalī portico, after which they proceeded to Jerusalem for visitation. They then requested permission to enter Egypt, but were refused, so they returned to Damascus, fasted Ramaḍān there, and finally set off back toward the eastern lands, having found no welcome in Damascus.
Their shaykh Burāq was a Rūmī from one of the villages of Dukath, about forty years of age. He enjoyed standing with Ghāzān, for the latter once set a tiger upon him; Burāq rebuked it, and it fled, leaving him unharmed. Impressed, Ghāzān bestowed thirty thousand upon him in a single day, which Burāq promptly distributed, winning the ruler’s affection. Among the practices of his followers was that they never missed a prayer; whoever neglected one was flogged forty lashes. Burāq claimed that the path he had adopted was meant to ruin his own self, regarding the outward garb as mere buffoonery suited to this world, while the true aim, in his view, lay in the inward state—the heart and its cultivation. As for us, we judge by outward actions, and Allah knows best what lies within hearts.