Ibn ʿAttāb said, “He never opened the door of public narration for himself. I kept his company for twenty years. At first he intended to lecture on the Muwaṭṭaʾ, so I recited it to him together with three others, four of us in all. When word of this spread, a number of people came to hear, but he refused to teach them.
We would gather with him along with the senior jurists who issued fatwas; a question would be put forward, they would disagree with him, yet he would continue to argue his case and prevail over them until they adopted his position. (1)
Ibn Bishr passed away in the middle of Shaʿbān in the year 422 AH, at the age of fifty-eight—may Allah have mercy on him—and no judge of his like appeared after him.
313 – al-Marzūqī, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan*
A master of grammar, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Marzūqī al-Iṣbahānī was one of the foremost authorities on the Arabic language.
He transmitted hadith from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar ibn Fāris. He occupied the teaching chair; people took knowledge from him and traveled to him for that purpose.
Among his works are An Exposition of the Ḥamāsah (2), a commentary of outstanding quality, a Commentary on al-Faṣīḥ, and other writings as well. (3)