In that same year Shihāb al-Dīn ibn Marrī al-Baʿlabakkī was forbidden to address the people in Egypt in the manner of Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya. The Mālikī judge subjected him to discretionary punishment over the issue of seeking relief (istighātha) (1). He was brought before the Sultan, where a number of amirs praised him, yet he was nevertheless banished to Syria together with his family. He first settled in the land of al-Khalīl (Hebron), then moved eastward and lived in Sinjār and Mardin and their districts, continuing to preach and admonish the people (2) until he died—may Allah have mercy on him—as we shall mention.

In Rabīʿ al-Ākhir the viceroy of Syria returned from Egypt, having been honored there by the Sultan and the amirs (3).

In Jumādā al-Ūlā an unprecedented rain fell upon Egypt, causing the Nile to rise by four (4) fingerbreadths and to remain turbid for several days.

During that same month the Tigris at Baghdad swelled until the lands surrounding the city were inundated. The inhabitants were trapped inside for six days, the gates remaining shut, and Baghdad looked like a ship afloat in the midst of the sea. Many farmers and others drowned, and losses—known only to Allah—were incurred. The townspeople bade one another farewell and sought refuge with Allah Most High, carrying Qurʾāns on their heads in the roofed section of the market (5), judges and notables included. It was a remarkable time. Then Allah showed them mercy: the waters subsided and diminished, and people returned to their previous pursuits, whether lawful or unlawful. Some reported that on the western side roughly six thousand six hundred houses were lost, and that even after ten years nothing that had been submerged would be recovered (6).

At the beginning of Jumādā al-Ākhirah the Sultan inaugurated the Siryāqūs khanqah (Sufi lodge) that he had built, having diverted a canal to it and constructed a residential quarter nearby. He attended the opening together with the judges, notables, amirs, and others, and appointed Majd al-Dīn al-Aqṣarāʾī (7) as its shaykh. The Sultan hosted a grand banquet there and listened to Chief Judge Ibn Jamāʿa transmit twenty hadiths, read aloud by his son ʿIzz al-Dīn in the presence of the court; among those present were Arghūn the deputy, Shaykh al-Shuyūkh al-Qūnawī, and others. A robe of honor was conferred upon the reciter ʿIzz al-Dīn, and he was lavishly praised and seated in a place of distinction. Robes were also bestowed upon his father Ibn Jamāʿa, upon the Mālikī judge and Shaykh al-Shuyūkh, upon Majd al-Dīn al-Aqṣarāʾī—the shaykh of the aforementioned khanqah—and upon others.