827 AH, 01/08
Then on Wednesday, the 1st of Shaʿbān, the reading of the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī was begun before the sultan.
Al-Maqrīzī said, “The qāḍīs and scholars (mashāyikh al-ʿilm), al-Harawī, al-shaykh Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. al-Jazarī, who came several days after his arrival, kātib al-sirr Najm al-Dīn b. Ḥijji and his nāʾib Badr al-Dīn b. Muzhir, Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Bāsiṭ, nāẓir al-jaysh, and the fuqahāʾ whom al-Muʾayyad had appointed, were present. In this year the innovation was introduced of the administrators (al-mubāshirūn) attending. It had been the custom from the days of al-ʾAshraf Shaʿbān b. Ḥusayn that the reading of al-Bukhārī would begin on the 1st of Ramaḍān, and that the qāḍī al-quḍāt al-shāfiʿī and al-shaykh Sirāj al-Dīn ʿUmar al-Bulqīnī, and a small group would attend to listen to al-Bukhārī. It would finish on the 27th, and a khilʿa would be given to the qāḍī al-quḍāt, and he would ride a mule with a saddlecloth, taken out of the sultan’s stable for him. It continued like that until al-Muʾayyad Shaykh became sultan, when the reading began on the 1st of Shaʿbān until the 27th of Ramḍān. The four quḍāt al-quḍāt and the scholars (mashāyikh al-ʿilm) were summoned, and a number of students were also chosen to attend. Debates would occur between them in which they would behave terribly to one another. The sultan continued with this, and introduced the innovation, as we have mentioned, the attendance of the administrators. The gathering became large and the entire session became an uproar.”
I said, There is nothing reprehensible about this. Just as al-ʾAshraf introduced the reading of al-Bukhārī in the month of Ramaḍān, another made it from the 1st of Shaʿbān. Every one of them who did so was a sultan, doing what he wanted. No one doubts that taking one’s time in reading is the best course, not least of all when reading the ḥadīth, in order for everyone to understand it from beginning to end. In addition, the larger the assembly, the greater the reward and recompense. As for the uproar, scholarly sessions are never without debate and rancor. Even if what passes between them is not proper, there is an understanding of the reward and recompense. All in all, there is no occasion to oppose here.