in the book ‘al-Madkhal ilā al-Ṣaḥīḥ’—a work by al-Ḥākim; and the very fact that these slips could be isolated testifies to his scholarly leadership and prodigious memory. (1)

ʿAbd al-Ghani said: “When I replied to Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim, pointing out the errors found in the Madkhal, he sent word thanking me and praying for me; at that moment I realised that he was a man of sound judgment.” (2)

Abū Bakr al-Barqānī remarked: “Since al-Dāraquṭnī, I have seen no one with a better memory than ʿAbd al-Ghani.” (3)

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣūrī related: “The ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghani told me, ‘I began compiling a book entitled al-Muʾtalif wa’l-Mukhtalif. While I was working on it, al-Dāraquṭnī arrived, and I took a great many points from him. When I had finished the compilation, he asked me to read it to him so that he could hear it from me. I said, ‘I derived most of it from you.’ He responded, ‘Do not put it that way. You received the material from me in scattered form, whereas you have presented it here as a single, cohesive whole; and the book also contains many things you learned from your own teachers.’’ He then added, ‘So I read it to him.’” (4)

Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī said: “ʿAbd al-Ghani ibn Saʿīd is an exacting ḥāfiẓ.”

I asked Abū Dharr al-Harawī, “Did you receive knowledge from ʿAbd al-Ghani?” He replied, “Certainly not, God willing.” He spoke thus for emphasis, because ʿAbd al-Ghani maintained ties with the Banū ʿUbayd—the rulers of Egypt. (5)

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAtīqī said: “ʿAbd al-Ghani was the foremost imam of his age in the science of…"