al-Qalānisi, one of the last remaining leaders and grandees of the city. Like his father and his uncle ʿAlāʾ al-Din, he had exercised important posts, yet he surpassed his forebears: for a time he managed the Treasury, served as judge of the armies, then assumed the office of Confidential Secretary together with the headship of the Council of Shaykhs and the professorships of the Nāṣiriyyah and the Shāmiyyah al-Jawwāniyyah madrasas. Earlier, in 736 AH, he had taught at the ʿAṣrūniyyah (1). When the sultan arrived last year he was removed from these high offices and fined a huge sum—almost two hundred thousand—so he sold much of his property and was left without any of his former stipends. He remained in obscurity for a time until this very day, when he died suddenly; he had felt a slight indisposition, but no one took notice. The funeral prayer was performed for him at ʿAṣr in the Great Mosque of Damascus, after which he was carried out through Bāb al-Naṭafāniyyīn to the family tomb at the foot of Mount Qāsiyūn—may Allah have mercy on him.
On the morning of Monday, the eighteenth of that month, a robe of investiture was bestowed upon the judge Jamāl al-Din, son of the Chief Judge Sharaf al-Din al-Kafri, the Ḥanafī (2). He was made a partner with his father in the judicature, and the rescript that arrived with the courier from the sultan styled him “Chief Judge.” He donned the robe in Dār al-Saʿādah, after which he came, accompanied by the Chief Judge Tāj al-Din al-Subkī, to the Nūriyyah. They sat in the mosque; a Qurʾan stand was placed, the Book was recited, but no formal lesson was given. People flocked to offer their congratulations on the post he had gained alongside his father.
On the morning of Tuesday, the righteous and devout ascetic Shaykh Fath al-Din (3) ibn Shaykh Zayn al-Din al-Fāriqī passed away. He had been imam of the Dār al-Ḥadīth al-Ashrafiyyah, custodian of its relics, and a muezzin in the Great Mosque. Ninety years of his life were spent in virtue, integrity, copious Qurʾan recitation, abundant prayer, and withdrawal from people. The funeral prayer was held that very morning, and he was borne out through Bāb al-Naṣr toward Ṣāliḥiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him.
On the morning of Monday, the tenth of Jumāda al-Ūlā, a courier arrived—Qarābughā, dawādār of the junior deputy of Syria—bringing a decree that appointed Shaykh Jamāl al-Din Yūsuf, son of the Chief Judge Sharaf al-Din al-Kafri, as Chief Judge of the Ḥanafīs, pursuant to his father’s resignation in his favour. He donned the robe of investiture in Dār al-Saʿādah and was seated below the Mālikī judge. They then proceeded to the maqṣūra of the Great Mosque, where his commission was read aloud by Shams al-Din ibn al-Subkī, deputy market inspector, and he designated two of their colleagues as his deputies.