A heavy rainstorm broke at the beginning of this month—corresponding to Shubāt (February)—and was followed by a great snowfall. The orchards, which for several months had been without water, were thoroughly irrigated. During that time no one could obtain water except at tremendous cost, effort, and expense; people nearly came to blows over it with bare hands, clubs, and every sort of payment. This occurred in Kānūn al-Awwal (December), Kānūn al-Thānī (January), and the opening of Shubāt, because the rivers were scant and feeble. In Ḥawrān as well most people had to draw water from distant places during those months. Then Allah—exalted be He—graciously sent flowing torrents, abundant rain and snow; the rivers swelled, and all praise and gratitude belong to Allah. The showers continued so steadily that it was as though the flood-season this year lasted from Kānūn right through Shubāt: Shubāt behaved like Kānūn, whereas in Kānūn not a single waterspout had flowed.

In this same month Emir Sayf al-Dīn Manjak arrived at the Blessed Jerusalem to build, on the Sultan’s behalf, a madrasa and a khānqāh to the west of the Noble Sanctuary. The decree written for him in gold ink was brought to Damascus, where the people viewed it, and I signed a copy of it. It contained extraordinary exaltation, praise, and commendation of him, thanks for his former services to this dynasty, pardon for his past missteps, and a laudatory account of his conduct couched in elegant language.

At the beginning of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir an order was issued against the teacher Sanjar (1)—a mamluk of Ibn Hilāl and possessor of vast wealth—by means of a noble decree that arrived by courier. He was required to pay six hundred thousand dirhams, and the building he had erected at Bāb al-Nāṭifāniyyīn (2) intending it for a madrasa was placed under sequestration. A directive stipulated that it be converted into an elementary school for orphans and that an endowment be set aside to cover their instruction. It was likewise decreed that such a school be established in every major madrasa throughout the realm—an excellent objective. Teacher Sanjar was handed over to the superintendent of the dīwāns so the stated amount might quickly be extracted from him; he immediately produced two hundred thousand, which were dispatched with an emir of ten to the Egyptian domains (3).

The sequestration of the scribes and dīwāns (4)

On Wednesday, the fifteenth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, an emir arrived from Egypt bearing a decree to seize the sultan’s dīwāns because of the monies they had consumed from the royal charitable stipends and other funds. They were summoned to the Outer Dār al-ʿAdl and compelled to pay enormous sums, to the point that they had to sell their furniture, textiles, carpets, household goods, and other possessions. It was even reported that one of them, having nothing left, brought his own daughters to the sales platform in order to sell them—and people wept.