ibn Naṣr ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn ibn Hārūn, the son of the Arab commander Mālik ibn Ṭawq (1) al-Taghlibī—the Iraqi jurist, a leading Mālikī scholar, descended from the lord of al-Raḥba (2).
He composed, in the Mālikī school, the book al-Talqīn, one of the finest abridgements; he also authored al-Maʿrifa (3), a commentary on the Risāla (4), along with other works (5).
Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb mentioned him, saying: “He was reliable. He narrated from al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-ʿAskari and ʿUmar ibn Sabank (6). I wrote ḥadith from him myself, and we never met a Mālikī more learned than he. He held the judgeship of Bādarāyā and Bākusāyā (7).”
Late in life he set out for Egypt, and while passing through Maʿarra he was hosted by Abū al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Sulaymān, who composed in his honor:
“The Mālikī, Ibn Naṣr, came to visit us on his journey (8),
And we extolled both the distance he had crossed and the travelling itself.”
(1) In Kashf al-Zunun, p. 1743, the name is misprinted as “Tuf” with a faʼ.
(2) The owner of al-Rahba is Malik b. Tawk al-Taghlibi; according to al-Baladhuri he built the fortress during the caliphate of al-Maʾmun. Al-Rahba lies on the Euphrates between al-Raqqa and Baghdad, downstream from Qarqusya. For further details see Muʿjam al-Buldan 3/34–36.
(3) Kashf al-Zunun, p. 1743, and Hadiyat al-ʿArifin 2/637 give the title as “al-Maʿuna”.
(4) I.e. the Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani.
(5) For his writings, see: Fawat al-Wafayat 2/419–420; Tartib al-Madarik 4/692; Shajarat al-Nur 1/104; al-Dibaj al-Mudhahhab 2/27–28; Hadiyat al-ʿArifin 2/637.
(6) The word is vocalised with an open sin and ba, the nun remaining quiescent; see Tabsir al-Muntabih 2/674.
(7) Tarikh Baghdad 11/31. Badaraya and Baksaya are two small towns in the Iraqi district; cf. Wafayat al-Aʿyan 3/222, al-Ansab 2/23 and 53, Muʿjam al-Buldan 1/316, 327, 499.
(8) The base manuscript reads “zan” with a nun; we adopt the form attested in the commentaries on Suqt al-Zand and other sources.