His words were always gracious (1). He was an engaging interlocutor, quick to recall material, strong in memorization, eloquent of tongue, and of pleasant character; he loved scholars and the poor alike. He had not yet reached fifty when he died in their house inside Bāb al-Farādis. The funeral prayer was held for him in the Umayyad Mosque, and he was buried on the Safḥ beside his father and brother near the Yaghmūriyyah (2). May Allah pardon him and forgive him.
On that same day Shaykh ʿAbd Allah (3) ibn Rashīq al-Maghribī passed away. He was the scribe who produced the manuscripts of our eminent teacher Ibn Taymiyyah and knew the shaykh’s handwriting better than the shaykh himself; whenever a passage puzzled Ibn Taymiyyah, this Abū ʿAbd Allah (4) would decipher it. He wrote swiftly and ably; religiously he was sound, devout, constant in Qur’an recitation, and excellent in prayer. He left a family and carried debts. May Allah have mercy on him and forgive him. Āmīn.
[Then the year 750 AH began]
The year opened with sovereignty over Egypt, Syria, the Two Sanctuaries, and other territories in the hands of al-Malik al-Nāṣir Ḥasan ibn al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn.
The viceroy of Egypt, the administrator of his dominions, and the atabeg was Sayf al-Dīn Baybughā (5).
The judges of Egypt were the same as those listed in the previous year.
The deputy governor of Syria was the amir Sayf al-Dīn Arghūn Shāh al-Nāṣirī.
The judges of Damascus likewise remained as before, as did the other officeholders, except for the preacher and the market inspector (7).
In this year—praise be to Allah—the plague receded significantly. The Office of Inheritances fell to about twenty cases a day after having reached five hundred during the year 749, then rose again slightly but never returned to its former peak.
For on Wednesday, the fourth of Muḥarram (8), the jurist Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad (9) ibn al-Thiqah died, along with his son and his brother, all within the same hour from this illness. The funeral prayer was performed for them all, and they were buried together in a single grave. May Allah Most High have mercy on them.