al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Qāsim, a descendant of ʿAlī (al-ʿAlawī), of the line of al-Ḥasan (al-Ḥasanī), a Zaydī from Hamadhān, surnamed “al-Waṣī.”
He was born in 310 AH.
He heard ḥadith from Ismāʿīl al-Ṣaffār, Khaythama al-Aṭrābulusī, al-Aṣamm, Ibn al-Aʿrābī, Abū al-Maymūn ibn Rāshid, ʿAbdān ibn Yazīd al-Daqqāq, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jallāb, Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd, Jaʿfar al-Khuldī, and Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī.
Those who transmitted from him include Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Layth al-Ṣaffār, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿUzayz, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Abharī, Abū Saʿd al-Kanjarwadhī, and several others.
Shīrawayh said, “He is reliable and truthful, a Sufi preacher. He studied jurisprudence in Baghdad under Abū ʿAlī ibn Abī Hurayrah, then adopted asceticism and lived near the holy precinct. After that he returned, stayed for a time in Bukhārā, and there he died in Muḥarram of 393 AH (1).”
Another report states that he died in Balkh (2).
Al-Sulamī remarked, “He was one of the noble descendants, both in learning and lineage, loved the poor, kept their company, and still retained his share of knowledge. He accompanied al-Khuldī, entered the Sufis’ small retreat in Ramla, and served them for some days. Then a faqīr arrived; he kissed the man’s head and said, ‘This is the nobleman of the mountain.’ ʿAbbās thereupon stood, kissed his foot, whereupon the sayyid picked up his water-jug and set off (3).”