al-ḥadīth al-Nūriyya, and lecturer of the Qūṣiyya (1) at the congregational mosque. He was born on the day of ʿĪd al-Fiṭr in 654 AH. He listened to ḥadith and studied under Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī, staying with him so closely that he was nicknamed “the abridgement of al-Nawawī.” He produced authored works, gleanings, collections, and takhrīj compilations. He held the post of shaykh of the Nūriyya from 694 AH until this year, a span of thirty years.
He died on Monday, the first of Dhū al-Ḥijja. After him, ʿIlm al-Dīn al-Barzalī assumed leadership of the Nūriyya, while Shihāb al-Dīn ibn Ḥirzallāh took charge of the Qūṣiyya. The funeral prayer was performed for him in the Great Mosque, and he was buried on Mount Qāsiyūn—may Allah have mercy on him. Allah, exalted is He, knows best.
[Then the year 725 AH began] It opened [and the rulers of the provinces were the same as those mentioned for the preceding year; its first day fell on a Wednesday] (2).
On the fifth of Ṣafar that year, Shaykh Shams al-Dīn Maḥmūd al-Iṣbahānī (3) arrived in Damascus after returning from the ḥajj and from visiting the Noble Jerusalem. He is a distinguished scholar who has authored several works, including “A Commentary on Ibn al-Ḥājib’s Abridgement,” “A Commentary on al-Tajrīd” (4), and other writings (5). He later produced a commentary on “al-Ḥājibiyya” as well, and after moving to Egypt he compiled for it a Qurʾānic exegesis. When he reached Damascus he was honored, students studied with him, and he enjoyed the favor of Judge Jalāl al-Dīn al-Qazwīnī. [He subsequently gave all of that up] (6) and began frequenting Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya, reading with him from his works, including his refutations of the theologians. [He kept his company for some time; when Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn passed away he moved to Egypt, where he completed the tafsīr] (7).
In Rabīʿ al-Awwal the sultan dispatched an expeditionary force of roughly five thousand men (8) to Yemen because his cousin had risen against him. A large number of pilgrims accompanied the army, among them Shaykh Fakhr al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī.