followed, decked out in awe-inspiring, dazzling trappings, accompanied by a great host and furnished with abundant, costly equipment. The Muslims rejoiced at his arrival, for they knew his courage, firmness, and zeal in commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong. May Allah support him and guide his steps.
On Friday, the second of Ramadan, the Hanbalis gave the Friday sermon in the Qubaybāt Mosque, and Qadi Shihab al-Din, the Hanbali military judge, was removed from that post by decree of the Sultan’s viceroy, for it was known that from the day of his appointment until then he had maintained a special attachment to the Hanbalis.
On Friday the sixteenth of the same month, ‘Uthman (1) ibn Muhammad—known as Ibn Dabadab, the iron-beater—was put to death by the sword after a number of witnesses, whose collusion in falsehood was impossible, testified that he frequently reviled the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him. He was brought before the Maliki judge and charged; he showed craven fear, but the decision was finally reached that he be executed. May Allah disfigure him, banish him far away, and show him no mercy.
On Monday the twenty-sixth, Muhammad (2), called Zabbalah, who had sided with Ibn Maʿbad, was likewise executed for his insults against the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and for other blasphemous claims he had made. Though it was reported that he prayed and fasted often, he nevertheless uttered vile slanders against Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘A’ishah the Mother of the Believers, and against the Prophet himself. His neck was struck that same day in the Horse Market—praise and thanks be to Allah.
On the thirteenth of Shawwal the royal Mahmal set out, commanded by Emir Nasir al-Din ibn Qarasunqur, together with the hajj judge Shaykh Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Sand al-Muhaddith, one of the jurist-consults.
Toward the end of Shawwal a man named Hasan, a tailor in the Shaghur quarter, was arrested. He was in the habit of championing Pharaoh—may Allah curse him—claiming that Pharaoh had died upon Islam and adducing as proof the verse: “I believe that there is no deity except the One in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims” (Qur’an 10:90). He failed, however, to grasp the meaning of Allah’s words: “Now—when beforehand you disobeyed and were of the corrupters?” (10:91); “So Allah seized him with the punishment of the Hereafter and of this world” (79:25); “So We seized him with a ruinous grasp” (73:16); and many other verses and hadiths proving that Pharaoh is the most disbelieving of unbelievers, as is unanimously held by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
On the morning of Friday, the sixth of Dhu al-Qa‘dah, a courier arrived summoning the Sultan’s viceroy (4) to Egypt with honor and distinction, in the manner previously accorded to Tankiz. Accordingly, the viceroy set out for Egypt, taking with him splendid treasures and gifts.