by the evening; in this way I produced thirty fascicles. When the baker’s supply was finally exhausted, I set out on my journey (1).

I (the author) remark: Bread must have been extraordinarily cheap in those days.

Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb said, “Aḥmad ibn Ghānim—who was a righteous man—informed me: ‘I helped move al-Barqānī from his house. He had with him sixty-three hampers and two chests, every one of them packed with books (2).’”

I add: Such was his zeal that he even received transmission (3) from his own student, Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb, and narrated from him while he was still alive. We ourselves have heard his work al-Muṣāfaḥah, contained in a single volume, with a lofty chain of narration.

Al-Khaṭīb said, “I used to review ḥadith with him; he would write them down from me and incorporate them into his compilations. I heard him say: ‘Imām Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī would read one page in his own voice to each attendee and then have it read back to him, but for me he would read two pages and tell the audience: I only give him preference over you because he is a jurist (4).’”

I note: He transmitted al-Ismāʿīlī’s Ṣaḥīḥ.

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed us; Abū Muḥammad ibn Qudāmah informed us; Abū al-Fath ibn al-Baṭṭī informed us; Abū al-Faḍl ibn Khayrūn informed us; Abū Bakr al-Barqānī informed us:

I read to Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sāmī informs you, ‘Khalaf ibn Hishām narrated to us; Ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated to us, from his father, from Khārijah ibn Zayd, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded me to learn the writing of the Jews.’”