Al-Barqānī said, “Al-Dāraqutnī copied thousands of narrations from Ibn al-Muẓaffar (1).”

Al-Khaṭīb reported: ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Dāwūdī told us:

“I saw al-Dāraqutnī show great reverence for Ibn al-Muẓaffar; he would not even lean back in his presence. I also found a large number of his autograph manuscripts with the book-dealers. When I asked one of them about the collection, he said, ‘Ibn al-Muẓaffar sold me eighty ritls of it.’

Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar added, ‘All of it consisted of material from Ibn Ṣāʿid, which al-Dāraqutnī had copied from him in his fine, minute hand. I went to Ibn al-Muẓaffar and asked him about the sale, and he replied, “I sold it. Do I really expect that people will take down from me the hadith of Ibn Ṣāʿid?”—or words to that effect (2).’

Al-Sulamī said: I asked al-Dāraqutnī about Ibn al-Muẓaffar, and he replied, ‘Reliable, trustworthy.’

I remarked, ‘It is said that he has a leaning toward Shiʿism.’

He responded, ‘Only a little—no more than would cause harm, God willing.’

Abū Nuʿaym said, ‘He is a ḥāfiẓ, trustworthy.’

The judge Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī said, ‘Ibn al-Muẓaffar is a ḥāfiẓ, but he displays an obvious Shiʿi tendency.’

Abū Dharr al-Harawī related: I heard Ibn Ḥunayf say,

‘Ibn al-Muẓaffar compiled some pages denigrating the hadith scholars and sent them as gifts to certain officials known for their Rāfiḍī leanings. That fascicle fell into my hands, so I, my nephew Mīmī, and Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Furāt went to see him. When he saw the fascicle with us, his expression changed and he began to offer excuses. We dealt with him gently and read it out to him.’

He died in Jumādā al-Ūlā of the year 379 AH, on a Friday. This was stated by al-ʿAtīqī.

In that same year the Andalusian scholar of language, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Zubaydī, also passed away.