183 – al-Mālīnī, Abū Saʿd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad*
The imam, traditionist, truthful ascetic, and tireless itinerant: Abū Saʿd (1) Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd (2) Allāh ibn Ḥafṣ ibn al-Khalīl al-Anṣārī, al-Harawī, al-Mālīnī, the Sufi, surnamed “the Peacock of the Poor.” (3)
He journeyed far and wide in pursuit of knowledge and in order to meet the masters, reaching Nīsābūr, Iṣfahān, Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, and the Two Sanctuaries. He gathered a great deal, possessed discernment and understanding, compiled works, and authored treatises.
He transmitted hadith from: Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī; Ismāʿīl ibn Nujayd; Abū al-Shaykh (4) ibn Ḥayyān; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Salīṭī (5); Yūsuf ibn al-Qāsim al-Mayanajī; al-Ḥasan ibn Rashīq al-Miṣrī; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Nuʿmān al-Ramlī; Abū Bakr al-Qaṭīʿī; al-Faḍl ibn Jaʿfar al-Tamīmī; Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Rabaʿī; Abū Aḥmad al-ʿAskarī; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Hārūn al-Baṣrī; and others of their rank.
(*) Principal sources: Tarikh Jurjan 82–83; Tarikh Baghdad 4:371–372; al-Ansab, s.v. “al-Malini”; Tarikh Ibn Asakir 2:46/2, 47/2; al-Muntazam 8:3; Muʿjam al-Buldan 5:44; al-Lubab 3:155; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 3:1070–1072; al-Ibar 3:107; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat 7:330; Tabaqat al-Subki 4:59–60; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya 12:11; al-Nujum al-Zahira 4:256; Tabaqat al-Huffaz 417; Hasan al-Muhadara 1:353; Shadharat al-Dhahab 3:195; Hadiyat al-ʿArifin 1:72; al-Risala al-Mustatrafa 76; Tahdhib Tarikh Ibn Asakir 1:446–447.
(1) Hadiyat al-ʿArifin mistakenly reads “Abu Saʿid.”
(2) Hadiyat al-ʿArifin corrupts the word “ʿAbd” to “ʿUbayd.”
(3) Al-Nujum al-Zahira calls him “Tawus al-fuqahaʾ” (the peacock of the jurists).
(4) This refers to the hadith master of Isfahan, Abu Muhammad ʿAbd Allah b. Muhammad b. Jaʿfar b. Hayyan al-Ansari, known as Abu Shaykh, d. 369/980; his biography appeared in volume 16.
(5) The nisba “al-Sulayti” goes back to his forefather Sulayt: Muhammad b. ʿAbd Allah b. Ibrahim b. ʿAbda b. Qatn b. Sulayt al-Tamimi al-Sulayti, d. 364/974; listed by al-Samʿani in al-Ansab.