The funeral prayer was held for him on Thursday in the Muzafarī Mosque. The judges of the city attended, together with the notables—scholars, emirs, merchants, and ordinary folk. It was a large and impressive procession, suffused with light and radiance. He was buried in the Rawḍa cemetery beside the grave of al-Sayf ibn al-Majd—may Allah have mercy on them both. Born in Rajab 705 AH (1), he had not yet reached forty, yet he had acquired a range of learning that many senior shaykhs never attain. He excelled in hadith, grammar, morphology, jurisprudence, exegesis, the two principles, history, and the Qur’anic readings. He left numerous useful collections and annotations. He had an excellent memory for the names of transmitters and the routes of hadith, was skilled in evaluating narrators, perceptive regarding hidden defects, quick to comprehend, sharp in discussion, sound-minded, steadfast on the path of the Salaf, devoted to the Book and the Sunnah, and constant in good works.
On Tuesday, the last day of the month, our colleague, the shaykh, the imam, the eminent scholar Sharf al-Din ibn al-Qadi Sharf al-Din al-Hanbali (2) delivered the Tuesday lesson in the Hanbali mihrab in place of Qadi Taqi al-Din ibn al-Hafiz—may Allah have mercy on him. Judges and men of learning were present, and the lecture was excellent. He opened with the Almighty’s words: “Indeed, Allah commands justice and ihsan (excellence)” (al-Nahl 90), and then addressed the question of favoring some children over others.
On Thursday, the second of Jumada I, a military expedition set out for Karak; over it (3) were placed two amirs: Amir Shihab al-Din ibn Subh and Amir Sayf al-Din Qalawun. They departed with great pomp and display, accompanied by troops, baggage trains, pack animals, and much commotion.
On the morning of Monday, the twenty-first of the same month, Hasan, son of (4) Shaykh al-Sakkakini, was executed in the Horse Market because of the rafidite beliefs he had openly professed—beliefs amounting to sheer disbelief. Numerous witnesses appeared before Qadi Sharf al-Din al-Maliki testifying to his unbelief and to his being an obstinate Rafidi. Among the accusations were that he declared the two Shaykhs—Abu Bakr and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them)—to be unbelievers; slandered the Mothers of the Believers ʿAʾisha and Ḥafṣa (may Allah be pleased with them); claimed that Gabriel had erred by conveying revelation to Muhammad when, he alleged, it was meant for ʿAli; and uttered other false and repugnant statements. May Allah abase him—and so He did.
His father, Shaykh Muhammad al-Sakkakini (5), was well acquainted with the doctrines of the Rafidis and Shiʿites. He raised a number of questions regarding the creed of Ahl al-Khair (the Sunnis) and composed a poem on the matter, to which our shaykh, the imam, the eminent scholar, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—replied.