364 – Abū ʿImrān al-Fāsī Mūsā ibn ʿĪsā*
The eminent imam, erudite scholar, and leading authority of Qayrawān: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn ʿĪsā ibn Abī Ḥājj (1) Yaḥuj (2) al-Barbarī, al-Ghafjumī (3), al-Zanātī, al-Fāsī, the Mālikī—one of the luminaries of his age.
He studied jurisprudence with Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qābisī, of whose pupils he was the most senior. He then travelled to al-Andalus, where he continued his studies under Abū Muḥammad al-Aṣīlī.
Among those from whom he heard hadith were ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Sufyān, Saʿīd ibn Naṣr, and Aḥmad ibn al-Qāsim al-Tāhartī.
Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “He was my companion while with them, and I was the one who directed him to them.” (4)
I add: He performed the pilgrimage more than once. In Baghdad he learned the Qurʾanic readings from Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ḥammāmī and others, and he heard hadith from Abū al-Fatḥ ibn Abī al-Fawāris and everyone present. He also acquired the rational sciences from the judge Abū Bakr ibn al-Bāqillānī in the years 399 and 400 AH. (5)
(*) See: al-Ikmal 7:80–81 and 189; Jadhwat al-Muqtabis, p. 388; Tartib al-Madarik 4:702–706; al-Ansab 9:224; al-Sila 2:611–612; Bughyat al-Multamis, p. 457; Muʿjam al-Buldan 4:207; al-Lubab 2:407; Maʿrifat al-Qurra al-Kibar 1:312; al-ʿIbar 3:172–173; al-Dibaj al-Mudhahhab 2:337–338; Ghayat al-Nihaya 2:321–322; Tabsir al-Muntabih 4:1410; al-Nujum al-Zahira 5:30; Shadharat al-Dhahab 3:247–248; Shajarat al-Nur al-Zakiyya 1:106.
(1) In al-Dibaj al-Mudhahhab the name is corrupted to “Hajjaj”.
(2) The word is vocalised with a fathah on the ya, a dhammah on the dotless ha, and a strong jim—pronounced like the imperfect verb yahujju (he performs the pilgrimage); it is the personal name Abū Haj. See al-Ikmal 7:189 and Tabsir al-Muntabih 4:1410.
(3) The nisba Ghafjum—spelled with a dotted ghayn, open fa, and jim with dhammah—designates a sub-clan of the Zanata, a Berber tribe of the Maghrib. See Tartib al-Madarik, p. 792, and al-Dibaj al-Mudhahhab 2:337.
(4) Al-Sila 2:611.
(5) See Tartib al-Madarik 4:702–703.