Obituaries of 824:
Qāḍi al-quḍāt shaykh al-ʾislām Jalāl al-Dīn ʾAbu ʾl-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. shaykh al-ʾislām Sirāj al-Dīn ʿUmar b.ʾArslān b. Naṣīr b. Ṣāliḥ al-Bulqīnī al-Shāfiʿī, chief judge and savant of Egypt died on Thursday night 11/10, at the age of 63 after a long illness from which he suffered since he left Damascus with the sultan on his journey back to Egypt. Prayers were said for him in the mosque of al-Ḥākim and he was taken to the quarter of Bahāʾ al-Dīn and buried next to his father in his madrasa, built in front of his house. He was my brother-in-law, the husband of my sister, and took charge of my upbringing. May God the Exalted have mercy on him. He died and after him there was nobody like him concerning the extent of his knowledge and the fact that he was free from the faults with which judges are charged He was born in Cairo in Jumādā I 762, so I heard him more then once in his own words. His mother was the daughter of qāḍī al-quḍāt Bahāʾ al-Dīn b. ʿAqīl al-Shāfiʿī the grammarian. He grew up in Cairo, memorised the Koran, and some texts of the traditions, studied fiqh under his father and other persons until he excelled in fiqh and its principles, in Arabic and tafsīr and the two branches of rhetoric. He issued fatwa’s and taught during the life of his father. He was appointed as qāḍī al-ʿaskar of Egypt, then he was appointed as chief judge there, in one of the two months of Jumada of 804, during the life of his father, in replacement of qaḍī al-quḍāt Nāṣir al-Din Muḥammad al-Ṣāliḥī. This was his first appointment, he was dismissed, then appointed again more then once (we have written about this in detail in our history al-Manhal al-Ṣāfī wa al-Mustawfī baʿd al-wāfī). His funeral was very well attended and his bier was carried on the tips of men’s fingers. He was intelligent, had a ready memory and had knowledge of fiqh and its subtleties, was straight in his reasoning, excellent in apprehension, retentive of memory, correct and eloquent in speech, strong in voice, pleasing in appearance, rather tall, light of complexion, with a tinge of redness, had a small rounded beard and glistening white hair, was handsome and good-looking, he was religious, abstinent, respected, highly esteemed, honoured by rulers and sultans, pleasant in conversation, tender-hearted, easily moved to tears, although he was also quick-tempered and irascible, this passed quickly from him and was followed by such attractive characteristics that everything else was forgotten. He was kind towards the common people, elegant in his dress and mounts, hosts of scholars and poets eulogized him. Qāḍī al-quḍāt Jalal al-Din Abu al-Saʿadat Muḥammad b. Ẓahīra, judge and savant of Mekka, recited to me in that honoured city verses by himself in praise of qāḍī Jalal al-Din in the year 852 (God have mercy on him), he recited: “Now joy to you, o Egypt’s folk, this glory of yours is very great, how many men the like of him unto your land did emigrate? And were it not for fear of God (supremely great His glory is!) for love’s excess I’d even say, your glory is supremely great.