Obituaries of 823:
Al-ʿallāma qāḍī Nāṣīr al-Dīn ʾAbu l-Maʿālī Muḥammad b. al-qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿIzz al-Dīn ʿUthmān b. Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. Hibat Allāḥ b. Ḥisān al-Juhanī al-Ḥamawī al-Shāfiʿī, known as Ibn al-Bārizī, kātib al-sirr al-sharīf bi l-diyār al-miṣrīya, and ʿaẓīm al-dawla in the reign of al-Muʾayyad, died on Wednesday 08/10. He was buried with his son al-Shihābī ʾAḥmad, mentioned in the preceding year, in front of the tomb of ʾimam al-Shāfiʿī -May God be pleased with him. He was born in Hama on Monday 04/10/769. His father died in 776, and he grew up under the protection of his maternal uncle. He memorised the Koran and the Ḥāwī on fiqh, and studied and learned fiqh under a number of scholars. He excelled in fiqh and Arabic, literature and composition of official documents. He was appointed as judge of Hama, then kātib al-sirr there. Then, when al-Malik al-Muʾayyad was nāʾib of Aleppo, he was friendly with him, and constant in his service to him. Then he became judge of Aleppo when al-Muʾayyad was nāʾib there. Then al-Malik al-Nāṣir arrested and imprisoned him in the Khayyāla tower of Damascus. While he was in prison he composed his well-known qaṣīda which begins : “ The time is here-confront it not in fright or fear, that any man be safe therein is marvel sheer.” The mentioned qaṣīda was recited orally for me by his son, al-ʿallāma Kamāl al-Dīn b. al-Bārizī, who had heard it more than once from the lips of his father. I have recorded the entire qaṣīda in his biography in our history al-Manhal al-Ṣāfī, as this is the good place for the elaboration of biographies. Another piece of poetry of him is the following, related to me by the same son qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn, who had it from its father: “ Twas good, when I was fighting, that his love I did neglect and for learning and for letters I was free from any care. But when I pray I sing aloud His praises and His name, alas for any mirthfulness in warfare or in prayer.” He remained imprisoned in the citadel of Damascus until al-Malik al-Nāṣir Faraj arrived there and wanted to kill him, but my father interceded for him and he was released, while the sultan was with him at the gate of the Dār al-Saʿāda in Damascus. He went to Hama and returned a second time to al-Malik al-Muʾayyad and remained with him until al-Malik al-Nāṣir was killed. He went with al-Muʾayyad to Egypt and was appointed as muwaqqiʿ in replacement of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Ṣafadī. In that time al-Malik al-Muʾayyad was ʾatābak. When he became sultan, in Shawwāl 815, he gave him a robe of honour and appointed him as kātib al-sirr, in replacement of Fatḥ Allāh who had been dismissed and confiscated. He performed his function with honour and was highly respected, increased in power, importance and prosperity, until he became ṣāḥib al-ḥall wa al-ʿaqd in the government. He spent his free nights with al-Malik al-Muʾayyad, was one of his boon companions and vied with him in very subject of seriousness and jest to a degree which no other who sat in his company approached. This was in addition to his wide knowledge, his eloquence, his command of poetry, his fluent conversation, his courage and boldness toward men in power and his rejection of them in matters that did not please him. At the same time he had their goodwill because of the successful outcome of whatever he chose. In short he was the greatest administrator of this office that we have ever seen, except from his son qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn who shall be mentioned in his proper place, but the son was superior in some aspects as will be mentioned.