Those who narrated from him include Saʿīd ibn Abī al-Rajāʾ, Ghānim ibn Khālid the merchant, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, and others.

He passed away in the year 458 AH. Some scholars vocalised his surname as “Shimah” with a kasrah, like “Simah”; this same reading is found in the handwriting of Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-ʿAṭṭār.

83 – al-Ṣaffār al-Khashshāb, Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad

The Imām, ḥadith scholar, instructor, and trustworthy authority: Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥabīb al-Nīsābūrī, known as al-Khashshāb and also as al-Ṣaffār.

Born: 381 AH.

He studied under Abū Muḥammad al-Makhladī, Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Khaffāf, al-Ḥākim, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (1), Ibn Maḥmish (2), and many others, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to this field.

ʿAbd al-Ghāfir states in “The Continuation of the History of Nīshāpūr”: “He was a beneficial traditionist, one of the close attendants of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī. A man of books, he became the bandār (3) of ḥadith manuscripts in Nīshāpūr, possessing more auditions and original copies than most of his peers. May Allah grant him blessed chains of transmission.”