Those who transmitted from him were: his own son, Tahir ibn Maahilah, Ahmad ibn Turkan, and Ali ibn Jahdham.
He was deemed reliable and held in great esteem.
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Saffar said, “We used to liken Abu al-Husayn to Ahmad ibn Hanbal for his calm composure and dignified bearing.”
I read this before Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al-Karim in Egypt, and Nasr ibn Jarw informed us; Abu Tahir al-Silafi informed us; Hamd ibn Nasr, the ḥafiz of Hamadhan, informed us; he said: I heard Ali ibn Humayd al-Dhuhli say: I heard Tahir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Maahilah, the ḥafiz, say: I heard Hamd ibn ʿUmar al-Zajjaj, the ḥafiz, say:
“When the ḥafiz Salih ibn Ahmad al-Tamimi held a dictation session in Hamadhan, he owned a mill. He sold it for seven hundred dinars and scattered the money over the inkwells of the hadith students.”
In that same year, 384 AH, the following also passed away:
• Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn Sahl al-Ansari, the last of the companions of Muhammad ibn Shadhil;
• the man of letters and author of “Al-Inshaʾ al-Badiʿ,” Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Hilal ibn Ibrahim ibn Harun al-Sabiʾi al-Harrani, in Baghdad;
• Abu al-Qasim Jibril ibn Muhammad ibn Sandula al-Hamadhani, who travelled widely and met al-Baghawi;
• the Musnid of Khurasan, the jurist Abu al-Qasim ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Saʿid al-Nasaʾi al-ʿAdl, a student of Hasan ibn Sufyan—though some said he actually died in 382 AH;
• the centenarian Abu Muhammad ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Saʿid ibn Muharib al-Ansari al-Istakhri, who narrated from Abu Khalifah al-Jumahi;
• the jurist Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Dahtham al-Tarasusi, resident in Nishapur—he was weak, and he narrated from Abu Khalifah;
• the grammarian Ali ibn Isa al-Rummani, the Muʿtazilite;
• the Musnid of Isfahan, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Jishnas ⦗1⦘;
• the ḥafiz Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-ʿAbbas ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Furat al-Baghdadi;
• and the Shafiʿi shaykh Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ali.