In that same year there also died Shihab Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān al-Amshāṭī (1), a man of letters celebrated for his mastery of zajal, muwashshaḥāt, mawāliyā, du-bayt, and balālīq. He was acknowledged as the foremost teacher of this craft (2). He passed away in the early sixties of the century.

The qadi, imam, scholar, and ascetic Ṣadr al-Dīn Sulaymān (3) ibn Hilāl ibn Shibl ibn Falaḥ ibn Khaṣīb al-Jaʿfarī al-Shāfiʿī—better known as the Preacher of Darayya—was born in 642 AH in the village of Buṣrā (4) in the district of al-Sawād (5). He came to al-Ṣāliḥiyya with his father in a state of poverty, memorised the Qur’an with Shaykh Naṣr ibn ʿUbayd, heard ḥadith, and studied jurisprudence under Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī and Shaykh Tāj al-Dīn al-Fazārī. He later held the pulpit of Darayya, taught at the Nāṣiriyya, and for a time served as deputy judge for Ibn Ṣaṣrā. An ascetic by nature, he never indulged in the luxury of public baths, linen garments, or other comforts, and he retained the hardy habits he had learned in the countryside. Humble in manner, he led the rain-seeking prayer in the year nineteen, and the people were granted rain, as we have mentioned. He traced his lineage to Jaʿfar al-Ṭayyār, with thirteen forefathers between them (6). Afterward he became preacher of al-ʿUqayba, resigned the deputy judgeship, and said, “This is sufficient.” He remained thus until he died on the night of Thursday, the eighth of Dhu al-Qaʿda. He was buried at Bāb al-Ṣaghīr, and his funeral was widely attended—may Allah have mercy on him. His son Shihab al-Dīn Aḥmad succeeded him on the pulpit.

Ibn Ṣabīḥ the muezzin (7), chief caller to prayer from the Minaret of the Bride (8) in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus together with al-Barhān—namely (9) Badr al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn Ṣabīḥ ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Tiflīsī, their client, Qur’an-reciter and muezzin—possessed one of the finest voices and sweetest tones of his time. He was born about 652 AH and heard ḥadith in 657 AH; among those who received narration from him were Ibn ʿAbd al-Dāʾim and other shaykhs, and he too transmitted ḥadith. A handsome man, his father had been the client of a woman named Shāma bint Kāmil al-Dīn al-Tiflīsī, wife of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Karkhī. He oversaw the affairs of the mosque, recited the Qur’an, and gave the adhān.