On Tuesday, the seventh of Dhu al-Qaʿdah, the preacher of the congregational mosque, Khatib Taj al-Din ʿAbd al-Rahim (1), son of Qadi Jalal al-Din Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman (2) al-Qazwini, passed away in the Preachers’ Residence. He had been ill for two days and was struck by the same plague that had overtaken the populace, as were the greater part of his household—concubines and children alike. Two days later he was followed by his brother, Sadr al-Din ʿAbd al-Karim (3). The funeral prayer for Khatib Taj al-Din was held that afternoon at the Preachers’ Gate, and he was buried in their family plot in al-Sufiyyah beside his father and his two brothers Badr al-Din Muhammad (4) and Jamal al-Din ʿAbd Allah (5) (may Allah be pleased with them).
On Thursday, the ninth, the judges and a large group of jurists qualified to issue fatwas gathered before the deputy of the sultan to address the vacant pulpit. The deputy summoned Shaykh Jamal al-Din (6) Mahmud ibn Jumlah to the session and appointed him to the office. The posts he had formerly held were removed from him and distributed among others: Qadi Bahaʾ al-Din Abu al-Baqaʾ received the teaching chair at the outer Zahiriyyah madrasa, and the remaining positions were apportioned to various people, leaving him with nothing but the preachership. That very day he led the noon prayer; early Friday morning he was invested with the robe of office, after which he again led the congregation in prayer and delivered the sermon in the customary manner of preachers.
On the Day of ʿArafah, which that year fell on a Saturday, Qadi Shihab al-Din (7) ibn Fadl Allah—secretary of the noble chancery for Egypt and Syria—died. He had earlier been removed from that post and passed away without any of the authority, prestige, immense wealth, properties, or numerous stipends it once conferred. He had built an imposing residence on the slope of Mount Qasiyun near the eastern side of the Rukniyyah (8); nothing on the slope could equal it.
The leadership of the chancery had come to rest in his hands, and in his day he was compared to al-Qadi al-Fadil (9). He left behind numerous writings.