He was truthful, reliable, and highly proficient in Arabic, with long-standing expertise in delivering admonitions.
Among those who transmitted from him were Abū al-Ḥasan al-Wāḥidī and a number of others.
ʿAbd al-Ghāfir b. Ismāʿīl relates: The teacher Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī said, “I saw the Rabb al-ʿIzzah (Lord of Majesty) in a dream; He spoke to me and I spoke to Him. During the vision the Lord—exalted be His name—said, ‘The righteous man is approaching.’ I turned, and there was Aḥmad al-Thaʿlabī coming toward me.” (1)
Al-Thaʿlabī passed away in Muḥarram of the year 427 AH.
In that same year also died: Abū al-Nuʿmān Turāb (2) b. ʿUmar b. ʿUbayd, the scribe; Muḥammad b. Abī Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Muzakkī (3), the traditionist; Abū ʿAmr Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad al-Razjāhī (4); al-Ẓāhir ʿAlī (5) b. al-Ḥākim, ruler of Egypt; al-Haytham b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Kharrāṭ; and Abū Naṣr Manṣūr b. Rāmish (6).
292 – al-Thaʿālibī, ʿAbd al-Malik b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl*
As for the eminent al-Thaʿālibī, the master of belles-lettres, he is Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Malik b. Muḥammad