Emir Muhammad Ḥusaynāh with a goblet of wine and told him to drink it, but he refused with the utmost firmness. Choban pressed him, swore oaths, yet Ḥusaynāh persisted in his refusal. Choban then said, “If you will not drink it, I shall fine you thirty tuman.” Ḥusaynāh replied, “Very well, I will pay it, but I shall not drink.” Choban thereupon drew up a ḥujja (legal deed) to that effect. Ḥusaynāh left his presence and went to another emir named Bekti, from whom he borrowed the thirty tuman. Bekti, however, would only lend it at a profit of ten tuman, and they agreed to those terms.
Bekti then wrote to Choban: “The money you required from Ḥusaynāh is with me. If you order, I will deliver it to the noble treasury; if you prefer, you may distribute it among the army.”
Choban summoned Muhammad Ḥusaynāh and said, “You would weigh out forty tuman and still not drink a single cup of wine?” He answered, “Yes.” Choban was impressed, tore up the deed that had been written against him, and Ḥusaynāh gained his favour; Choban consulted him in all his affairs and entrusted him with major provinces (1).
[Choban himself gave up and repented of much of what he had been doing—may Allah have mercy on Ḥusaynāh] (2).
In this same year a civil strife broke out in Isfahan in which thousands of its inhabitants were killed, and the devastation between the factions lasted for months.
That year Damascus also suffered extreme inflation: a gharrāra (large sack) of grain reached two hundred and twenty, and provisions became scarce. Had Allah not provided the people with those who brought them grain from Egypt, the dearth would have increased many times over and most of the populace would have perished. The crisis lasted for several months of this year and continued into the middle of the year twenty-five, until grain finally arrived and prices fell—praise and thanks belong to Allah (3).
Among the notable deaths recorded this year:
On the first of Muḥarram there passed away Badr al-Dīn Muhammad (4) ibn Mamdūd (5) ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥanafī (6), judge of Qalʿat al-Rūm in the Noble Ḥijāz. He was a devout servant, performed the ḥajj many times, and would sometimes enter iḥrām at Qalʿat al-Rūm or at Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) (7). The absentee funeral prayer was performed for him in Damascus.
Sharf al-Dīn ibn al-ʿIzz and Sharf al-Dīn ibn Najīḥ, a companion of Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya, were likewise granted the same blessed death mentioned above; they passed away after their righteous deed following the ḥajj (8).