Allah. Several of the shaykh’s companions related that al-Sakkakini did not die until he had renounced his doctrine and embraced the position of Ahl al-Sunnah—Allah knows best. I was also told that his son, this vile Hasan, had even plotted to kill his father when the latter openly professed the Sunnah.
On the night of Monday, the fifth of Rajab, the body of the late Deputy of Syria, Amir Sayf al-Din Tankiz, was brought to his mausoleum beside the mosque he had founded outside Bab al-Nasr in Damascus. It had been moved from Alexandria after three and a half years, or a little more, through the intercession of his daughter—the wife of al-Nasir—with her son, the Sultan al-Malik al-Salih, who granted permission. They had wished to bury him in his madrasa in the Holy City of Jerusalem, but that proved impossible, so he was conveyed to his tomb in Damascus. A complete Qur’an recitation (khatm) was held for him, and the judges and dignitaries attended. (May Allah have mercy on him.) ⦗1⦘
On Tuesday, the eleventh of the blessed month of Sha‘ban, our companion the amir Salah al-Din Yusuf al-Takriti ⦗2⦘, nephew of the statesman Taqi al-Din ⦗3⦘ Tawbah the vizier, died at his residence in the Qasa‘in quarter. He was a man in his early forties, intelligent, quick-witted, eloquent, and possessed of keen insight. He had great love for Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—especially, for the shaykh’s disciples in particular, and for all men of learning in general. He was self-denying, generous, and fond of the poor and the righteous. He was buried in their cemetery ⦗4⦘ at the foot of Mount Qasyun—may Allah have mercy on him.
On Saturday the fifteenth of that same month a tremor struck Damascus, but because of its lightness most people did not feel it—praise and thanks be to Allah. News then arrived that it had wrought great havoc in the region of Aleppo: several towers of the Citadel collapsed, together with many of the city’s houses, mosques, shrines, and walls; the fortresses around it suffered far worse. They reported that scarcely anything remained of the city of Manbij and that most of its inhabitants perished beneath the rubble—may Allah be pleased with them. ⦗5⦘
Toward the end of Shawwal detachments were dispatched to Karak under two senior amirs: ‘Ala’ al-Din Qarasunqur and al-Hajj Baydamur. During these days it became widely known that conditions in Karak had deteriorated severely: affairs grew desperate, provisions were exceedingly scarce, and groups of its leaders—together with some of Amir Ahmad ibn al-Nasir’s own retainers—defected in rebellion against him. At daybreak they were sent off to Qalawun, accompanied by leading cavalrymen, and from there to Egypt. They reported that Ahmad’s supplies had dwindled to almost nothing. We ask Allah to grant a good outcome.
On the night of Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of Dhu al-Hijjah, the scholar, jurist, and imam, Qadi Burhan al-Din ⦗6⦘ ibn