Citadel of Damascus
Due to his views and also by not abiding to the sultan's letter two years before forbidding him from issuing a fatwa on the issue, three council hearings were held, in as many years (1318, 1319 and 1320), to deal with this matter. The hearing were overseen by the Viceroy of Syria, Tankiz. This resulted in Ibn Taymiyyah being imprisoned on 26 August 1320 in the Citadel of Damascus. He was released about five months and 18 days later, on 9 February 1321, by order of the Sultan Al-Nasir. Ibn Taymiyyah was reinstated as teacher of Hanbali law and he resumed teaching.