—owing to the loftiness of its chain of transmission—and in Nīshāpūr he studied under his jurist-mentor Abū al-Ḥasan al-Māsarjassī, while in Baghdad he received narrations from al-Dāraqutnī, Mūsā ibn ʿArafah, ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Sukkarī, and al-Muʿāfā al-Jarīrī.

He settled in Baghdad, where he taught, issued fatwas, imparted knowledge, and assumed the judgeship of the Karkh quarter after Judge al-Ṣaymarī.

He related: “I travelled to Jurjān to meet Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī. I arrived on a Thursday, entered the bathhouse, and the next day I met his son Abū Saʿd, who told me, ‘The shaykh has taken medicine for an illness. Come tomorrow so that you may hear from him.’ When Saturday morning came, I went early, only to find the people saying, ‘Al-Ismāʿīlī has died.’” (1)

Al-Khaṭīb said: “Our shaykh Abū al-Ṭayyib was God-fearing, intelligent, thoroughly versed in both the principles and the subsidiary issues of the law, exacting in scholarship, of fine character, and sound in doctrine. I frequented his lessons and took notes on jurisprudence from him for years.” (2)

It is reported that Abū al-Ṭayyib once handed a khuff (leather sock) of his to a cobbler for repair. The man kept delaying; whenever Abū al-Ṭayyib arrived, he would soak it in water and say, “I will fix it now.” When this dragged on, Abū al-Ṭayyib remarked, “I gave it to you to mend, not to teach it how to swim.” (3)

Al-Khaṭīb also said: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Muʾaddib relate that he heard Abū Muḥammad al-Bāfī say, ‘Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī is more proficient in fiqh than Abū Ḥāmid al-Isfarāyinī.’ And I heard Abū Ḥāmid say, ‘Abū al-Ṭayyib is more proficient in fiqh than Abū Muḥammad al-Bāfī.’” (4)