a brief synopsis drawn from all of that, recounting his merits and virtues, his bravery, generosity, sincere counsel, renunciation, devotion, and his many carefully refined fields of learning (1); his writings (2), great and small, in every discipline (3); and his distinctive legal positions, which he supported with the Quran and the Sunnah and for which he issued fatwas.
In sum, he—may Allah have mercy on him—was one of the leading scholars, a man who at times was right and at times erred; yet his mistakes, when set beside his correct judgments, were like a single drop in a fathomless sea. Moreover, his errors are forgiven, for in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī it is stated: “If a judge strives and is correct, he receives two rewards, and if he strives and errs, he receives one” (4)—so he is rewarded in any case.
Imam Mālik ibn Anas said, “Everyone’s statement may be accepted or rejected—except that of the occupant of this grave.” (5)
On the twenty-sixth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah the deputy of the sultanate, Sayf al-Dīn Tankiz (6), moved his chests and wealth from the Dār al-Dhahab inside Bāb al-Farādis to the residence he had built, known as Dār Fulūs; it thus came to be called Dār al-Dhahab. He dismissed his treasurer, Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā, and appointed his mamluk Abāḥī in his stead.
On the twelfth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah a tremendous flood struck the city of Ajloun from early morning until the ʿAṣr hour. It destroyed large portions of its congregational mosque, markets, properties, and homes; seven people drowned, and the populace lost a vast amount of money, grain, goods, and livestock—valued at nearly one million dirhams. Allah knows best. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we return.
On Sunday the eighteenth of Dhu al-Ḥijjah the Shāfiʿī judge, Shaykh ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Qūnawī, required all notaries in every district to let the streamers (7) hang from their turbans so they might be distinguished from the common folk. They complied for some days, but when it proved burdensome he allowed them to dispense with the practice, though some continued it.
On Tuesday the twentieth of Dhu al-Ḥijjah, the shaykh, the imam, the eminent scholar, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shams al-Dīn, was released.