821 AH, 16/04:
Wazīr Badr al-Dīn Ḥasan b. Naṣr Allāh and Tāj al-Shawīkī the ʾustādār al-ṣuḥba went to the tomb of al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq, and set up kitchens in the southern court. They had sheep and cows brought there and spent the night preparing meals and baking bread. Then the sultan left after the morning prayer, he descended the citadel without the royal signs, on the contrary he wore a white woolen cloak without any sash at his waist, and over his shoulders a woolen shawl which hung down in back in the way of the Sufi’s. On his head he wore a small turban with an end dropping down between his beard and his left shoulder. He was downcast and sad, constantly reciting the Koran and the praises of God, while riding on a horse with a caparison without gold, silver or iron. People had come to the Desert in mass, and shaykh al-ʾislām qāḍī al-quḍāt Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bulqīnī al-Shāfiʿī left his residence in the Bahāʾ al-Dīn quarter and went to the desert, in the midst of a big number of people. Then most of the ʾaʿyān of Miṣr went to the Desert, some riding and some walking, until they stopped where the sultan was in the Desert, near Qubbat al-Naṣr, and they were carrying banners and copies of the Koran and their voices were raised to glorify God the exalted of His unity and His power. When the sultan reached the place of the Friday prayers in the Desert Plain he dismounted from his horse and remained on his feet where the caliph, the judges and ʿulamāʾ were at his right and at his left, and before and behind him were the various classes of Sufi’s, shaykhs of the zāwiya’s and others who God alone could count. The sultan then spread out his hands and prayed to God (Who is exalted), weeping and lamenting, the mass of people looking at him with faith in the efficacy of his prayer. He stood for a long time in prayer while everyone else also prayed to God-Who is exalted- and humbled himself, until the prayer was finished and the sultan rode toward the court of the tomb of al-Malik al-Ẓāhir, where the meal was going to be. The men went at his stirrup and in front of him without anyone hindering them. He proceeded until he dismounted in the court of the tomb of al-Ẓāhir . When the food was presented to him, he took of it and the men ate with him. Then he slaughtered a sacrifice which he offered to God -Who is exalted. It consisted of about 150 fat rams worth 5 dinar each; then he sacrificed ten fat cows, two water buffaloes and two camels. All the while he was weeping and the tears were running down the sides of his face in sight of the crowd of men. He then left to the men the sacrifices lying in the place where they were killed just as they were; and he rode to the citadel. The wazīr and Tāj al-Dīn supervised the distribution of the sacrifices as whole carcasses to the men of the well-known mosques, the monasteries, the tomb of imam al-Shāfiʿī, Imam Laith Ibn Saʿd, the Nāṣirī shrine, and a number of other chapels-to these they were carried whole. But a number of them were cut up in the court and distributed to the poor. That day also 820000 loaves of fine bread were distributed and a number of large kettles filled with the abundant food. From that day the plague gradually started to decrease.