818 AH, Ṣafar:
Then the sultan gave a robe of honour to amir Quṭlubughā and appointed him as nāʾib of Alexandria, in replacement of ʾĀqbirdī al-Minqār, because he had been dismissed. This Quṭlūbughā was one of those upon whom amir Timurbughā al-ʾAfḍalī, named Minṭāsh, bestowed an amirate of 100 in Egypt. Then al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq took his iqṭāʿ and he was without office for many years and he became poor, he remained for a long time in obscurity and had to beg, until al-Malik al-Muʾayyad summoned him from his home and appointed him as nāʾib of Alexandria without questions. I said: “This was the custom of the rulers of the past, that they would raise up those who fate had abased, and would establish prominent households of leaders and lords of accomplishment. But all of this has gone by, and only those who are lavish in expending money rise in official positions, even though they may be of the rabble among marketmen, because of the greed of rulers to gather wealth- how well did al-Mutanabbi expressed it when he said: “If one expends the hours to gather wealth from fear of poverty, poverty is what he had produced.” One who was present with Quṭlūbughā when al-Malik al-Muʾayyad summoned him to appoint him as nāʾib of Alexandria, told me that when he came to the sultan, this last one said to him: I will appoint you nāʾib of Alexandria, upon what Quṭlūbughā grasped his white beard and said “O our master, the sultan, I am not fitted for that-all I wish is to satisfy my stomach and the stomach of my family.” He thought that the sultan was bantering him, but the sultan said “No by God, what I have said is in earnest.” Then he ordered to bring the tashrīf for him, placed it upon him, and give him horses and a caparison