Shaykh Imām ʿAlīm Ibn Marḥal

His lineage is as follows: Zayn al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbdullāh b. Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn ʿUmar b. Makkī b. ʿAbd al-Samad b. Marḥal. He was a mudarris (professor) at the Shāmiya* al-Birrāniyya and Azrāwiyya madrasas in Dimashq (Damascus). Previously, he taught at Mashhad al-Ḥusayn. He was virtuous, a highly learned ʿālim, faqīh (jurist), specialist in uṣūl (principles), and munāẓir (debater). He was of handsome appearance, pleasant character, pious, and conservative. For a time, he served as a judge (ḥākim) in Dimashq as a deputy for ʿAlam al-Dīn al-Ahnāʾī. His way of life was praised. He passed away on the night of Wednesday, the nineteenth of Rajab of this year, and was buried in the tomb next to the Masjid al-Dayyān. Qāḍī Jalāl al-Dīn came from Miṣr (Egypt) to attend the funeral ceremony. He stayed in Dimashq for only two days. Five days later, Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥak came to Dimashq with his family and children on the occasion of his death. After Ibn Marḥal, Qāḍī al-Quḍāt Jamāl al-Dīn b. ... began teaching at the Shāmīya al-Birrāniyya Madrasa. He too passed away a few months later, on Thursday, the fourteenth of Dhū al-Qaʿda. Shaykh ʿAlam al-Dīn al-Barzalī recorded his biography in his history in this manner.