Al-Mu'azzam forces the qadi Zaki al-Din to wear the qaba' and kalawta, 616 AH (1219)

Among the events of 616 AH in Mir'at al-zaman, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi relates that al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa, lord of Damascus, made the city's qadi, Zaki al-Din, put on the qaba' and the kalawta — a soldier's coat and cap, not the dress of judges — and ordered him to sit in judgement wearing them. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, one of al-Mu'azzam's intimates, tells the story and counts it among the ugliest things that happened. ^{2 3}

Sibt ibn al-Jawzi says al-Mu'azzam bore the qadi "grudges" that he was too embarrassed to show while his father al-Adil lived, and that he complained of him repeatedly, saying he "does not enforce judgements or uphold the landmarks of Islam". He records that he used to ask the qadi, "Has this matter not been proven before you?" and he would say, "Yes"; "Then why do you not rule on it?" — "I will not rule." ²

Then al-Adil died and al-Mu'azzam's aunt Sitt al-Sham fell ill; she left her house as a madrasa by will and called the qadi and the witnesses, and al-Mu'azzam resented the qadi entering his aunt's house without his leave. ² Later the qadi summoned the collector of the Aziziyya madrasa and demanded its accounts; the collector spoke rudely to him, and the qadi had him beaten in his presence "as governors do". Al-Mu'azzam now found a way to show what he felt. ³

Al-Jamal al-Misri, agent of the treasury and an enemy of the qadi, came and sat with him in his court while the witnesses and the public were present. Al-Mu'azzam sent a servant with a bundle containing a qaba' and a kalawta, ordering the qadi to judge between the people wearing them; out of fear the qadi stood up, put them on and judged between two litigants. Sibt ibn al-Jawzi says that what hurt him most was al-Jamal al-Misri's presence. ³ The qadi then fell ill "and brought up his liver in pieces". ³ In his notice on al-Jamal al-Misri, Yunus ibn Badran, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi records that al-Mu'azzam afterwards made him chief qadi of Damascus, and describes him as learned, upright and scrupulous. ⁴

In the text of one manuscript, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi calls it "a shameful act and an ugly event" and "one of al-Mu'azzam's blunders". He says he told al-Mu'azzam, "You did this only to the holder of the Law, and you now owe the qadi's blood-money", and al-Mu'azzam replied, "He drove me to it, and I have regretted it." ³ Sibt ibn al-Jawzi thinks the qadi could have escaped by declaring before witnesses that he resigned and refusing the clothes. ³ All this is the narrator's view; the qadi's own voice is not heard in the report.

The poet Ibn Unayn addressed two lines to al-Mu'azzam on the affair, saying he had begun a custom that kings would follow after him: "robes for judges, and gifts for ascetics". Ibn Unayn had turned ascetic, and al-Mu'azzam had sent him a flask of wine and a backgammon set, saying, "Tell your beads with these." ³