Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Mahdī al-Fārisī, originally from Kāzarūn (1) and later of Baghdad, a cloth-merchant by trade.
He heard a great deal from Qāḍī al-Maḥāmilī, and also received ḥadīth from Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿUqda, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah, Muḥammad ibn Makhlad al-ʿAṭṭār, and al-Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyā ibn ʿAyyāsh. He possessed unique transmissions and his reputation reached distant places.
Among those who narrated from him were Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb—who also judged him reliable—Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Bazzāz, Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad al-Mihrāwānī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī ʿUthmān, Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Busrī, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dāʾūdī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṭabarī, Abū al-Ghanāʾim Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUthmān, ʿĀṣim ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿĀṣimī, the leading Muʿtazilī exegete Abū Yūsuf ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī, Rizq Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī, the preacher ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Anbārī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭalḥa al-Niʿālī, and others.
Al-Khaṭīb (2) said: “He was trustworthy and reliable; he died in Rajab 410 AH.”
He also said: “He was born in 318 AH.”
I say: From his chain we have obtained elevated portions of the Maḥāmiliyyāt (3) and other works, and he would narrate during his travels.