Fakhr al-Din, the secretary of the mamluks, was reinstated in his post, while Qutb al-Din Ibn Shaykh al-Salamiyya continued to serve alongside him.

In this same month Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Qawwām (1) and a group of devout men took action against Ibn Nahrah (2) al-Maghribī, who used to preach in the al-Kallāsah quarter. They drew up a deposition against him alleging his disrespect for the Mushaf, [and that he reviled the scholars; he was therefore brought to the Dār al-ʿAdl where he capitulated and his life was spared] (3). He was nevertheless subjected to a harsh and severe public flogging and paraded through the city, inside and out, bare-headed, his face turned backward and his back beaten, while a crier proclaimed: “This is the punishment of anyone who speaks on the religious sciences without knowledge.” He was then imprisoned; after his release he fled to Cairo, but in Shaʿbān he returned post-haste and went back to his former ways.

That month Bahadur Āṣ arrived in Damascus from the deputy governorship of Ṣafad, and the people congratulated him.

A royal decree from the sultan also reached Damascus (4) ordering that no one be appointed to office through money or bribery, for such practices lead to the investiture of those unworthy of authority [and to the entrusting of office to the unfit] (5). Ibn al-Zamlakānī read the decree from the platform, and Ibn Ṣabīḥ (6) the muezzin announced it on his behalf; the motive for this and the earlier decree was Shaykh Taqī al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him).

During Rajab and Shaʿbān the people of Damascus were seized with fear (7) because the Tatars had begun to move [with the intention of coming to al-Shām] (8). The population grew alarmed; many withdrew into the city and crowded at its gates. This continued into Ramadan, and rumors multiplied that they had reached al-Raḥbah (9). It was likewise reported—and widely believed—that this had taken place at the instigation of Qarāsunqur and his supporters; Allah knows best.

In Ramadan another decree from the sultan arrived stating that whoever commits a killing is alone to bear responsibility: the murderer is to be pursued until retribution is exacted from him in accordance with the noble Sharīʿah. Ibn al-Zamlakānī read it from the platform in the presence of the deputy of the sultanate, Tankiz (10) [and its origin, like that of the previous decree, was Ibn Taymiyyah, for he had ordered both] (11).