Obituaries of 821:
Amir Sayf al-Dīn Baisaq b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Shaykhī al-Ẓāhirī, one of the amirs of 40 and ʾamīr ʾākhūr thānī, died in Jumādā II in Jerusalem as baṭṭāl. In the days of his ʾustādh al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq and his son al-Malik al-Nāṣir Faraj he had been appointed as ʾamīr al-ḥājj several times and inspected the rebuilding of the sacred mosque in Mekka, after it burnt down in 803. Then al-Nāṣir Faraj became angry with him and banished him to his relative by marriage, amir ʾIsfandiyār, the ruler of Bilād al-Rūm, where he stayed until al-Muʾayyad Shaykh became sultan, when Baisaq came to him. However al-Muʾayyad did not receive him, because he had been one of the servants of amir Nawrūz al-Ḥāfiẓī. He stayed in his house for a while. Then al-Muʾayyad banished him to Jerusalem as baṭṭāl, and he died there. He was an intelligent amir, had knowledge on different things, sided with the Hanafite jurists. against the Shafiʿites. He was pious and gave alms, but he was ill-tempered and irascible. Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn al-Fāsī, qāḍī and historian of Mecca, wrote his biography and called him ʾamīr kabīr, but Baysaq never received an amirate of 100. The highest rank he obtained was ʾamīr ʾākhūr thānī and amir of 40, nothing more. Between that rank and the rank of amir of 100 are several more steps, and between an amir of 100 and an ʾamīr kabīr several more, but al-Fāsī makes him ʾamīr kabīr in one step. He did this with many prominent Egyptians, every time because of his lack of experience with the subject. However he is trustworthy as ḥāfiẓ, knows the ḥadith and the men who formed the chain. He was a leading authority on the inhabitants of his land and on the matters of the sacred mosque. In his work on the history of Mecca he reached the highest degree of excellence, contrary to his biographical work, for there he abbreviated to the extreme, and he turned upside down the rulers and prominent men of regions other than Mecca. The greatest of those we have known in this regard are my teacher Taqī al-Dīn al-Maqrīzī and chief judge Badr al-Dīn al-ʿAynī, others than these two are in the same category as shaykh Taqī al-Dīn al-Fāsī. I do not wish to disparage anyone but the truth must be told, whatever the case may be; and note that the works of all of them are at hand, so let anyone whom my judgement displeases examine them and satisfy himself. End.