[4][b] He had lost his position at some point before or during the political transition, but regained it by developing close ties with the Ottoman government.
[4] Badr al-Din, born in 1499, received an elite education in the Mamluk capital Cairo,[4] including instruction by al-Suyuti.
By the time of his death in 1577 he had become among the preeminent scholars of Damascus, best known for his tafsirs (interpretations of Islamic scripture) and his fatwas (legal opinions).
[6] Ghazzi became a highly reputable scholar and teacher in several madrasas, and at times served as a mufti, imam and Friday prayer khatib (preacher).
The work was called al-Kawakib al-sa'ira bi a'yan al-m'ia wa ashara (The Wandering Stars: The Notables of the Tenth Century [AH]).
[7] His biographical works were mainly devoted to notables from greater Syria, but there were also several entries about figures from Egypt and the Ottoman Empire in general.
Kawakib contained 1,543 biographies, divided into three volumes by generation, which he defined as thirty-three years, citing a hadith by Muhammad.
[6] In each entry, Ghazzi generally mentioned the subject's genealogy, lifespan, residence and burial place, madhhab, posts, characteristics and values, and notables events of their life.
The Constantinople work Al-Iqd al-manzum fi al-rihla ila al-Rum is located in the Köprülü Library in Istanbul.
The Baalbek work is no longer extant, but was centered around an official mission he participated in to gauge the situation there in 1618 amid the domination of the region by the Druze chief and district governor Fakhr al-Din II.