I say: The version that has him recording hadith from one thousand seven hundred shaykhs is the sounder one, and reason readily accepts it. That figure alone suffices to show how prodigious his efforts were, for very few reach what al-Tabarani achieved—and his own teachers numbered about one thousand, as was likewise the case with al-Hakim and Ibn Mardawayh. Allah knows best.

Al-Hakim said: “Ibn Manda’s first departure from our city to Iraq was in the year 339 AH. There he heard hadith, and he did the same in greater Syria. He then remained in Egypt for several years, during which he compiled al-Tarikh and al-Shuyukh (1).”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Sūdhurjānī said: “I heard Ibn Manda say, ‘I wrote from one thousand shaykhs, and I never found anyone more exact than the judge Abū Ahmad al-ʿAssal (2).’”

Abu al-Husayn ʿAli ibn Muhammad informed us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzim the ḥāfiẓ informed us; ʿAli ibn al-Mufaḍḍal informed us; al-Salafi informed us; Tahir al-Maqdisi informed us: I heard Saʿd ibn ʿAli the ḥāfiẓ in Mecca, and he was asked about al-Daraqutni, Ibn Manda, al-Hakim, and ʿAbd al-Ghani (3). He replied, “As for al-Daraqutni, he is the most learned of them in spotting hidden defects; as for Ibn Manda, he transmits the greatest number of hadith while also possessing complete mastery; as for al-Hakim, he writes the best; and as for ʿAbd al-Ghani, he is the most knowledgeable of them in genealogy (4).”

I add: Abū ʿAbd Allah spent something over thirty years on his travels, resided for a time in Transoxiana (5), and would occasionally engage in trade, after which he returned to his hometown.