Aḥmad—as well as his works Kitāb al-Zuhd and Kitāb al-Faḍāʾil. He was born at the beginning of 274 AH.
He heard ḥadith from: Muḥammad ibn Yūnus al-Kudaymī, Bishr ibn Mūsā, Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥarbī, Abū Muslim al-Kajji, Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Abbār, Idrīs ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ḥaddād, Abū Khalīfa al-Jumaḥī, Abū Shuʿayb al-Ḥarrānī, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUmar al-Thaqafī, Mūsā ibn Isḥāq al-Anṣārī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Ibrāhīm ibn Sharīk, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Firyābī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Qays al-Minqarī, Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṣūfī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Ṭayālisī, al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ṭayyib al-Balkhī, and many others besides them.
He travelled, committed ḥadith to writing, produced compilations, and was on intimate terms with the science of ḥadith.
Those who narrated from him include: al-Dāraqutnī; Ibn Shāhīn; al-Ḥākim; Ibn Razqāwayh; Abū al-Fatḥ ibn Abī al-Fawāris; Khalaf ibn Muḥammad al-Wāsiṭī; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib al-Bāqillānī; Abū ʿUmar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Basṭāmī; Abū Bakr al-Barqānī; Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī; Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Bukayr; Abū al-Qāsim ibn Bishrān; the ḥadith scholar ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Asdabādī; al-Ḥasan ibn Shihāb al-ʿUkbarī; Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bākawayh; Bushrā al-Fātanī; Abū Ṭālib ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Zuhrī; Muḥammad ibn al-Muʾammal al-Warrāq; Abū al-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Azhari; al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Khallāl; ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Shāhīn; Abū Ṭāhir Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAllāf al-Wāʿiẓ; Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Mudhahhib; and Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Jawharī, the last of his pupils.