al-Malik ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Thaʿālibī (1); the erudite scholar Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥaufī (2) of Egypt, author of the book “al-Iʿrāb”; and the distinguished Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn ʿĪsā ibn Abī Ḥāj al-Fāsī (3), the leading Mālikī authority in al-Qayrawān.
306 – Al-Barqānī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad *
The Imām, the erudite authority, the jurist, the ḥāfiẓ, the reliable preserver, mentor of the jurists and ḥadith scholars: Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ghālib al-Khuwārazmī, later known as al-Barqānī, a Shāfiʿī and the author of several works (4).
He began auditioning ḥadith in 350 AH, in Khwārazm, from Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn Ḥamdān al-Ḥīrī al-Naysābūrī, the brother (5) of Abū ʿAmr, who conveyed to him narrations from Muḥammad ibn al-Ḍurays and other senior transmitters. In the same city he also heard from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥassānī and Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Janāb, both natives of Khwārazm.
He took ḥadith in Herat from Abū al-Faḍl ibn Khamīruwayh, and in Jurjān from the Imām Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī and Abū Aḥmad ibn al-Ghitrīf.
(1) His biography has already been given under no. 292.
(2) His biography will be presented under no. 346.
(3) His biography will be presented under no. 364.
(*) Main sources for al-Barqani: Tarikh Baghdad 4/373–376; Tabaqat al-Shirazi p. 106; Al-Ansab 2/156-157; Tarikh Dimashq 2/47/2, 48/2; Al-Muntazam 8/79; Mu jam al-Buldan 1/387; Al-Lubab 1/140; Tabaqat Ibn al-Salah, fol. 35; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 3/1074-1076; Al- Ibar 3/156; Duwal al-Islam 1/253; Al-Mushtabih 1/66; Al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat 7/331; Uyoun al-tawarikh 12/138; Tabaqat al-Subki 4/47-48; Tabaqat al-Isnawi 1/231-232; Al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya 12/36; Al-Nujum al-zahirah 4/280; Tabaqat al-huffaz p. 418; Shadharāt al-dhahab 3/228; Hadiyyat al- arifin 1/74.
The nisba al-Barqani refers to a village in the district of Kath, near Khwarazm; most of it is now in ruins and used as farmland. According to al-Sam ani, the initial ba is pronounced with a fat ha, whereas Yaqut notes that some pronounce it with a kasra.
(4) For manuscript copies of some of his works, see Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, vol. 1, p. 384.
(5) The original manuscript reads: ‘akhū’ (brother).