when Friday arrived, the courier came from Egypt bearing a summons for the preacher Jalal al-Din al-Qazwini to proceed there. (1) He was then informed that he had been appointed chief judge of Syria.
On that same day robes of honour were conferred upon Taqi al-Din Sulayman ibn Marajil, investing him with the supervision of the congregational mosque in place of Badr al-Din ibn al-Haddad, who had died. The oversight of the Small Maristan was at the same time taken from Ibn Marajil and entrusted to Badr al-Din ibn al-ʿAttar.
That Thursday night, the fifteenth of Jumada al-Akhirah, after the night prayer, the moon was eclipsed. The preacher led the eclipse prayer, reciting four surahs—Qaf, “The Hour Has Drawn Near” (al-Qamar), al-Waqiʿah, and al-Qiyamah—then performed the ʿIshaʾ prayer and delivered a sermon afterwards.
(2) The next morning he led the people in the dawn prayer, mounted the postal relay to Egypt, and received the Sultan’s favour. (3) A few days later the Sultan invested him with the judgeship; he then turned back toward Syria and entered Damascus on the fifth of Rajab as judge, preacher, and professor at both the ʿAdiliyya and the Ghazaliyya. He took up all these duties; the professorship at the Amīniyya was removed from him and given to Jamal al-Din ibn al-Qalansi, who simultaneously retained his agency over the Bayt al-Mal. Jurisdiction over the armies was also added to Jalal al-Din, and he was now addressed as Chief Judge Jalal al-Din al-Qazwini. (4) At the Masruriyya, Shaykh Kamal al-Din ibn al-Zamalkani began teaching in his stead. (5)
In that same year the king of Takrur (6) arrived in Cairo on the twenty-fifth of Rajab on his way to the pilgrimage. He encamped in the Qarafa cemetery district with some twenty thousand Maghrebi retainers and servants, bringing so much gold that its price fell by two dirhams. (7) He was known as al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa ibn Abi Bakr, a handsome young man whose realm is said to extend a distance of three years’ travel, with twenty-four subordinate kings under his authority, (8) each commanding his own subjects and armies. When he entered the Citadel to greet the Sultan, he was ordered to kiss the ground but refused; nonetheless the Sultan honoured him (9), though he was not permitted to sit (10). After he had left the Sultan’s presence, a dapple-grey horse with two yellow atlas girths was brought for him, together with fine riding camels and many other accoutrements befitting his rank. He in turn sent the Sultan numerous gifts, among them forty thousand dinars, and presented the deputy with about ten thousand dinars in addition to many other valuables.