[Then entered the year 762 AH]

This blessed year opened while the Sultan of Islam over Egypt and Syria, the Two Holy Sanctuaries and all their dependencies, was al-Malik al-Nāṣir Ḥasan ibn al-Malik al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn al-Malik al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn al-Ṣāliḥī. He had appointed no viceroy in Egypt; its judges were the same as those mentioned the previous year, and his vizier was the qāḍī Ibn al-Khaṭīb.

The viceroy of Syria in Damascus was Emir Sayf al-Dīn Baydamur al-Khwārazmī; the judges, the Friday-preacher, the rest of the Ashraf, the inspector of the army, and the muḥtasib were likewise those cited last year. The vizier was Ibn Qarawīnah (1); the kātib al-sirr (chief secretary) was Qāḍī Amīn al-Dīn ibn al-Qalansī; the wakīl bayt al-māl (superintendent of the treasury) was Qāḍī Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ṣafadī, one of the four signatories of the dīwān; the shād al-awqāf (superintendent of the awqāf) was Emir Nāṣir al-Dīn ibn Faḍl Allāh. The ḥājib al-ḥujjāb al-Yūsufī had departed for Egypt to become amīr jundār; the town prefect was Nāṣir al-Dīn, and the naqīb al-nuqabāʾ was Ibn al-Shujaʿī.

On the morning of Monday, 6 Muḥarram, Emir ʿAlī (2), the deputy of Ḥamāh, arrived from that city. He entered Damascus en route to Egypt, lodging first in the Qaṣr al-Ablaq, then moving to the house of the dawādār Yalbughā, who had recently added many residences in the Qaṣṣāʿīn quarter. People flocked to greet him, and he remained there until the morning of Thursday the 9th, after which he set out for Egypt.

On Sunday, 19 Muḥarram, Ḥasan ibn al-Khayyāṭ was brought from the Shāghūr quarter to the Mālikī tribunal, having been taken from prison. He was examined concerning the question of Pharaoh’s faith, and several charges were brought against him for taking Pharaoh’s side—may Allah curse him. These accusations were confirmed, first by his own confession and then, a second and third time, during the ensuing debate. He is an old, ignorant, meddlesome commoner (3) who can neither adduce nor understand proof. A mere doubt had lodged in his imagination, which he tried to defend by citing the Almighty’s words (4) about Pharaoh when drowning overtook him, the waters surrounded him, he witnessed Allah’s might and beheld His painful punishment. At that moment (5) he said:

“I believe that there is no deity but the One in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims.” (Yūnus 10:90)

Allah, exalted be He, replied: “Now—when you had disobeyed before and were of the corrupters? Today We shall preserve your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you.” (Yūnus 10:91-92)

This simpleton imagined that the profession of faith uttered by Pharaoh in such a state would benefit him. Yet Allah Most High has said:

“When they beheld Our might they said, ‘We believe in Allah alone, and we disavow all that we used to associate with Him.’ But their belief did not benefit them once they saw Our might—such is Allah’s way with His servants—and there the disbelievers were ruined.” (Ghāfir 40:84-85)

And Allah, exalted is He, says: