al-Qattāt, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Marwazī, and others of their rank. He enjoyed an exceptional memory and exacting precision.
Those who narrated from him include: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ, Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥajjājī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fārisī, Abū Naṣr ibn Qatādah, and many others. Among the earlier generation, Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿUqda also transmitted from him.
Al-Ḥākim said: “Even more astonishing is that Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hāniʾ narrated to us, saying, ‘Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shāfiʿī narrated to us,’ saying, ‘Abū ʿAmr ibn Maṭar narrated to us’—and the last two had died long before him. He (Ibn Maṭar) is the one who extracted the choice reports for Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Aṣamm. Allah revived al-Aṣamm’s knowledge through those selections, for al-Aṣamm had ruined his original notebooks and thereafter depended on Ibn Maṭar’s book …”
Al-Ḥākim went on to say: “I have seldom seen anyone more patient in poverty than Abū ʿAmr. For Friday prayers and when attending scholarly gatherings he would adorn himself with a single set of clothes, yet inside his home he wore a threadbare fur coat. His fare was a loaf of bread with an onion—or a carrot. I have been informed that he spent the night in worship, enjoined what is right, forbade what is wrong, and molded bricks for the graves of the poor. Among our teachers I have seen none to match him in dedication.”
He died in Jumādā al-Ākhira of the year 360 AH, at the age of ninety-five.
- Al-Muzzakkī, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā*
The imām, ḥadith scholar, and exemplar: Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn—