Among those who narrated from him were al-Khaṭīb, Abū ʿAlī al-Ahwāzī, al-Kattānī, Abū Ṭāhir al-Ḥinnāʾī, the jurist Naṣr al-Maqdisī, and others.

Al-Khaṭīb ⦗1⦘ said, “He was one of the jurists, renowned for keen intelligence, sound understanding of jurisprudence and arithmetic, and for addressing the most intricate questions. He also composed fine poetry. I took transmissions from him in Damascus, and he told me, ‘I studied under Ibn Māsī and Abū Bakr al-Warrāq, and I was born in the year 358 AH.’ ”

He lived in al-Raḥba ⦗2⦘ for a period, and he related to me that he heard Abū ʿUmar ibn Ḥayyawayh say, “I heard Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn Surayj ⦗3⦘ say”—when asked about the legal status of the monkey—“‘It is ṭāhir (ritually pure), it is ṭāhir.’ ”

Shaykh Abū Isḥāq says in al-Ṭabaqāt ⦗4⦘: “He was a jurist, an accountant, and a versatile poet; I have never seen anyone whose speech was more eloquent. He told me: ‘I fell ill, and Shaykh Abū Ḥāmid came to visit me, so I composed:

I lay sick and yearned for a visitor,
and the whole world visited me in one man.
That man was the Imām, son of Abū Ṭāhir—
Aḥmad, the man of merit, Abū Ḥāmid.’ ”

Those who transmitted his poetry include Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Naqqūr and al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd.

He also authored a large work on the school entitled al-Istidhkār ⦗5⦘.