I heard Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbd al-Ghafir say: “I heard the Imam Abu al-Maʿali al-Juwayni relate, ‘While I was in Mecca, uncertain about the various schools, I saw the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who said to me: Adhere to the creed of Ibn al-Sabuni.’”

ʿAbd al-Ghafir said: Among the elegies composed for Abu ʿUthman are these verses by the Imam Abu al-Hasan ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Dawudi:
The learned Imam Ismaʿil is gone—
alas for him; there is none to replace him.
The heavens and the earth wept on the day he died,
and Revelation itself mourned his loss.
The shining sun and moon took turns lamenting,
and the stars raised their wail for him.
The earth, subdued, shed tears of grief,
crying, “Woe is me—where is Ismaʿil?”
Where is the matchless Imam in his courtesy?
In all the world he had no peer.
Let not the illusions of life beguile you;
they distract and make one forget—hopes are but deception.
So ready yourself for death before it descends,
for death is certain and our stay is short. (1)

18 – al-Khabbazi, Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Muhammad

The shaykh of the Qur’an reciters, Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Muhammad al-Naysaburi, known as al-Khabbazi.

He transmitted (Sahih al-Bukhari) from al-Kushmihani (2); it was then transmitted from him