Among those who studied with him were the judge Abu Taghlib al-Mulhami, Ahmad ibn Masrur al-Khabbaz, Muhammad ibn ʿUmar al-Nahawandi, and a group of others.

Those who transmitted his hadiths include Abu al-Qasim ʿUbayd Allah al-Azhari, the judge Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari, Ahmad ibn ʿAli al-Tawzi, Ahmad ibn ʿUmar ibn Rawḥ, Abu ʿAli Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Jazari, Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hasnun al-Narsi, and many others besides.

Al-Khatib said: He was, in his day, among the most learned people in jurisprudence, grammar, philology, and the various branches of literature. He served as judge at Bab al-Taq and followed the legal school of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari. We were told that the jurist Abu Muhammad al-Bafi used to say, “When the judge Abu al-Faraj is present, all the sciences are present.” (1)

Al-Khatib also said: The judge Abu Hamid al-Dalawi narrated to me that Abu Muhammad al-Bafi used to say, “If a man were to bequeath one-third of his wealth to the most learned person, it would have to be given to Muʿaffa ibn Zakariyya.” (2)

Al-Khatib added: I asked al-Barqani about Muʿaffa, and he replied, “He was the most learned of men and a trustworthy authority, though I did not hear from him myself.” (3)

Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi related: “I saw Muʿaffa ibn Zakariyya sleeping with his back to the sun in the Rusafah congregational mosque on a bitterly cold day. Despite the breadth of his knowledge, the marks of hardship, poverty, and destitution upon him were grievous indeed.”