authored works on jurisprudence and other disciplines. He mastered many sciences—grammar, morphology, the two foundational disciplines, and fiqh—and he had a firm command of al-Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf, as well as a sound understanding of hadith (1). He was notably fair, richly endowed with praiseworthy qualities, and deeply respectful of scholars. A catalogue of his teachers was compiled, which we read out in his presence, and he showed marked humility toward our shaykh al-Mizzī.
He died in his orchard at al-Saham (2) on Saturday, after the ʿAṣr prayer, the fourteenth of Dhuʾl-Qaʿdah. The funeral prayer was performed over him the next day, and he was buried at the foot of Mount Qāsiyūn. May Allah pardon him.
Amir Ḥusām al-Dīn Lājīn (3) al-Manṣūr al-Ḥusāmī—known as Lājīn the Younger—held the post of superintendent of the postal service in Damascus for a time, then served as deputy governor of Gaza, and afterward of al-Bīrah, where he died in Dhuʾl-Qaʿdah and was laid to rest (4). He had constructed a mausoleum for his wife outside Bāb Sharqī, yet it was not decreed that he be buried there. “No soul knows in what land it will die” (Qur’an 31:34).
The administrator ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū Yaʿlā, Ḥamzah (5) ibn Muʾayyad al-Dīn Abū al-Maʿālī Asʿad ibn ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū Ghālib al-Muẓaffar, son of the vizier Muʾayyad al-Dīn Abū al-Maʿālī ibn Asʿad ibn al-ʿAmīd Abū Yaʿlā (6) Ḥamzah ibn Asad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Tamīmī al-Dimashqī al-Qalānsī, was one of the foremost notables of Damascus.
Born in 649 AH, he heard hadith from numerous scholars, transmitted it, and we likewise heard hadith from him. He enjoyed exalted rank, deeply rooted distinction, and vast estates that amply met every worldly need. He consistently kept aloof from (7) official appointments until he was compelled to accept the superintendency of the Royal Treasury and, as mentioned earlier, the vizierate in 710 AH; he was later dismissed and, on occasion, subjected to confiscation. He bestowed beneficence upon intimates and dignitaries alike, and he was charitable toward the poor and the needy.
He remained honoured and esteemed by state officials—deputies, kings, amirs, and others—until he passed away in his orchard on the night before Saturday, the sixth of Dhuʾl-Ḥijjah. The funeral prayer was held the following day, and he was buried in his own mausoleum at the foot of Mount Qāsiyūn. In Ṣāliḥiyyah he endowed a fine ribāṭ (8) that includes a hadith chamber, provisions for benevolence, and endowments for charity. (May Allah have mercy on him).