of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, at the royal encampment in Qarabāgh, their winter residence. His body was then taken to the tomb he had prepared for himself in the city he had founded near Sulṭāniyyah, the birthplace of his father. He had been one of the finest of the Tatar kings—upright in conduct, firmly committed to the sunnah and zealous in upholding it. During his reign the people of the Sunnah were held in honor, while the Rāfiḍah were brought low, the very opposite of what obtained under his father. After his death the Tatars never regained their former standing; instead they fell into disputes and dispersed in every direction, and so they remain to this day. The man who succeeded him was Arbakāwūn ⦗1⦘, a descendant of Abghā, but his authority lasted only a short while.
On Wednesday, the tenth of Jumādā al-Ūlā, Nūr ⦗2⦘ al-Dīn al-Ardabīlī delivered the lecture in the Inner Nāṣiriyyah in place of the late Kamāl al-Dīn ibn al-Shīrāzī, with the judges in attendance. That same day the shaykh, imām, and Qur’an-reciter Sayf al-Dīn Abū Bakr al-Ḥarīrī taught in the Outer Ẓāhiriyyah, taking over from Nūr al-Dīn al-Ardabīlī, who had relinquished it after being granted the Inner Nāṣiriyyah.
The next day his scribe, Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr, taught in the Najībiyyah in place of Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn ibn Qāḍī al-Zabadānī, who had vacated it when he was appointed to the Inner Ẓāhiriyyah. The judges and leading figures attended. It was a well-attended session; those present praised him and marveled at the breadth and orderliness of his presentation, which dealt with the commentary on the Almighty’s words: “Only those of His servants who possess knowledge fear Allah” (Sūrat Fāṭir 28). The discussion then flowed naturally into the question of ribā al-faḍl (usury through unequal exchange).
On Sunday, the fourteenth of the month, Ibn Qāḍī al-Zabadānī gave the lesson in the aforementioned Ẓāhiriyyah, replacing the late ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ibn al-Qalānsī. The judges and dignitaries were present, and it was a rainy day ⦗3⦘.
At the beginning of Jumādā al-Ākhirah a severe rise in prices struck the lands of Egypt, continuing until Ramaḍān. In Rajab a large caravan—about 2,500 people—set out for Mecca, among them ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn Jamāʿah, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī, Ḥasan al-Salāmī, Abū al-Fatḥ al-Salāmī, and many others.
In Rajab the construction of the Bāb al-Faraj bridge was completed; a parapet was built upon it, and orders were issued that it remain open until after the final ʿishāʾ prayer, like the other gates. Previously it had been closed at sunset.
On the last day of Rajab the first Friday prayer was held in the mosque built by Najm al-Dīn ibn Khulaykhān ⦗4⦘ opposite Bāb Kaysān on the qiblah side, and the sermon was delivered by the eminent scholar Shaykh Shams al-Dīn Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.