He was born in 286 AH.
Among those from whom he heard hadith were Ibrāhīm ibn Sharīk, Jaʿfar al-Firyābī, Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, ʿUmar ibn Abī Ghaylān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Nājah, and others of their generation.
Transmitters from him include al-Barqānī, Abū Muḥammad al-Khallāl, Abū al-Qāsim al-Tanūkhī, Abū Muḥammad al-Jawharī, and many others.
Ibn Abī al-Fawāris said: “He was trustworthy, precise, and reliable; he compiled topical chapters and catalogued shaykhs.” (1)
Al-ʿAtīqī said: “He was a trustworthy, reliable scholar of hadith who preserved it well.”
He died in Jumādā al-Ākhira 375 AH. (2)
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad the jurist informed us; ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad related to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī related to us; ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Khaffāf related to us; ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Zayyāt related to us; Ḥamza ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād narrated to us; Abū Umayya al-Thaqafī—on the authority of Saʿīd al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayra—reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“Whoever sets out early for Friday, arriving in the first hour, bathes thoroughly, walks rather than rides, draws close to the imam, listens attentively, and refrains from idle talk until the Friday prayer is completed, Allah will grant him sufficiency for what lies between that Friday and the next, plus an additional three days.”
Abū Umayya—whose name is Ismāʿīl ibn Yaʿlā—is weak, but the narration has another chain whose isnād is ḥasan. (3)