over those who came before him, wearing out those who followed him, and leaving the later generations unable to reach his level. He lived honorably and, in his own time, left no equal behind. He passed on to the mercy of Allah on the eighth of Ṣafar in the year 405 AH (1).

Abū Ḥāzim ʿUmar b. Aḥmad al-ʿAbduwī, the ḥadith master, said: I heard al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh—the leading scholar of ḥadith in his age—say, “I drank Zamzam water and asked Allah to grant me excellence in authorship” (2).

Al-ʿAbduwī also said: I heard Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī say, “I once wrote on the back of a fascicle containing the ḥadith of Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥajjājī, adding the words ‘the ḥadith master’. He took the pen, struck out that title, and remarked, ‘How good a memoriser am I, really? Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Bayyāʿ has a better memory than I, and among the ḥadith masters I have seen none but Abū ʿAlī al-Naysābūrī and Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿUqda.’”

I also heard al-Sulamī say, “I asked al-Dāraqutnī, ‘Who has the stronger memory, Ibn Mandah or Ibn al-Bayyāʿ?’ He replied, ‘Ibn al-Bayyāʿ is more precise in memorisation’” (3).

Abū Ḥāzim added: I stayed with Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿUṣmī for close to three years, and among all our shaykhs I never saw anyone more exact or more thorough in investigation than he. Whenever something proved difficult for him, he would order me to write to al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh. When the reply arrived, he would rule according to it and adopt it as decisive (4).

The ḥadith master Abū Ṣāliḥ, the caller to prayer, said: “Masʿūd b. ʿAlī narrated to us…”