Hatim al-Atrabullusi said, “Abū al-Hasan al-Qābisī was an ascetic, scrupulously pious, and ever-vigilant man; in Kairouan I never met anyone who did not acknowledge his merit. Among those who studied jurisprudence under him were Abū ʿImrān al-Qābisī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Labīdī (1), ʿAtīq al-Sūsī, and others (2).

He produced a series of outstanding works, including Kitāb al-Mumahhid (The Primer) on jurisprudence, Kitāb Aḥkām al-Diyānāt (Legal Rulings on Matters of Faith), al-Munqidh min Shubah al-Taʾwīl (The Deliverer from the Doubts of Figurative Interpretation), Kitāb al-Munabbih lil-Faṭan (3) (The Awakener of the Intelligent), Kitāb Mulakhkhaṣ al-Muwaṭṭaʾ (Compendium of the Muwaṭṭaʾ), Kitāb al-Manāsik (The Rites), Kitāb al-Iʿtiqādāt (Creeds), and other titles as well (4).

He was born in 324 AH.

He died in the month of Rabiʿ al-Akhir in the city of Kairouan. Crowds kept vigil by his grave overnight, tents were pitched, and poets composed elegies for him in 403 AH.

He had received Qurʾanic recitation by direct audition in Egypt from Abū al-Fatḥ ibn Budhun, and for many years he taught the readings in Kairouan. Later he abandoned that teaching when he learned that one of his pupils had instructed the governor. He then devoted himself to lecturing on jurisprudence and hadith until he mastered both disciplines and became the imam of his age. Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī praised him even more highly than this, saying:

“We wrote down a great deal from him; he remained on the journey for five years, and he returned in the year seven …”