In Dhu al-Ḥijjah Shams Muḥammad (1), the muʾadhdhin popularly called al-Najjār and also known as al-Battī, passed away. He used to address assemblies and recite poetry at public gatherings. Allah, exalted be He, knows best.
[Then came the year 737 AH]
The new year began on a Friday. By that time the caliph al-Mustakfī bi-Llāh had been placed under arrest by Sultan al-Malik al-Nāṣir, who forbade him to mix with the populace. The viceroy of Syria was Tankiz ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nāṣirī. The judges and other officials remained those mentioned for the preceding year, except that the office of chief chancery secretary (kitāb al-sirr) was now held by ʿAlam al-Dīn ibn al-Quṭb. The prefect of the rural districts was the amir Badr al-Dīn ibn Quṭlubak ibn Shashankīr, while the prefect of the city was Ḥusām al-Dīn Ṭurunṭāy (2) al-Jukandar.
On the very first day of the year, a Friday, word arrived that ʿAlī Pasha’s army had been smashed and that he himself—so it was said—had been killed (3).
Letters from the pilgrims reached Damascus on the twenty-second of Muḥarram, describing the severe hardships they had endured: many camels had perished, baggage had to be abandoned, and great numbers of men and women were forced to continue the journey on foot. To Allah we belong and to Him we return; praise be to Allah in every circumstance.
Toward the end of Muḥarram the judge Ḥusām al-Dīn Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Ghūrī, qadi of Baghdad, arrived in Damascus together with the vizier Najm al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn ʿAlī ibn Sharwān (4) al-Kurdi and Sharaf al-Dīn ʿUthmān ibn Ḥasan al-Baladī. They stayed three days and then left for Egypt, where they were warmly received by the sultan: the first was appointed judge for the Ḥanafīs, as will be noted later; the second was made vizier; and the third received a military command.
On ʿĀshūrāʾ Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad, son of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad (5) ibn al-Labbān, a Shāfiʿī jurist, was summoned before the Jalālī court of justice (6). Present with him were Shihāb al-Dīn ibn Faḍl Allāh, Majd al-Dīn al-Aqṣarāʾī—the shaykh of shaykhs—and Shams al-Dīn (7) al-Iṣbahānī. He was charged with reprehensible doctrines: indwelling (ḥulūl), mystical union (ittiḥād), extremist Carmathian tendencies, and the like. He admitted to some of these charges, whereupon judgment was passed to spare his life. Intercession was made on his behalf; his stipends were left in place, but he was forbidden to preach to the people. A number of amirs and notables (8) rose in his defense.