The jurist Naṣr al-Maqdisī journeyed to him and studied jurisprudence under his tutelage. Abū ʿAlī al-Fāriqī, himself a jurist, recited the Qur’an to him as well. Among those who narrated hadith from him were Abū Ghānim ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Maʿarrī (1), ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan al-Naḥḥās, Ibrāhīm ibn Fāris, and others. He also transmitted hadith in Damascus, which he had entered on his way to the pilgrimage. Ibn ʿAsākir said, “Ḍabbah ibn Aḥmad told me that he met him and heard from him.” Ibn al-Najjār stated, “He died in 455 AH (2).”
89 – al-Khiḍrī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Marwazī
The eminent, erudite imam, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Khiḍrī (3)—the surname goes back to one of his forefathers—was from Marw, a Shāfiʿī, and a companion of al-Qaffāl al-Marwazī (4).
(1) In al-Subki’s Tabaqat the name is erroneously printed as “al-Uday.”
(2) He is also credited with a Shafi‘i legal work entitled al-Ibana, as recorded in Kashf al-Zunun, al-Isnawi’s Tabaqat, and Hadiyat al-Arifin.
(*) Principal sources for his biography: Tabaqat al-Abbadi, p. 96; al-Ikmal, 3/252; al-Ansab, 5/141; al-Lubab, 1/451; Tahdhib al-Asma wa-l-Lughat, 2/276; Wafayat al-A‘yan, 4/215–216; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, 2/72–73; al-Subki’s Tabaqat, 3/100–101; al-Isnawi’s Tabaqat, 1/469; Tabsir al-Muntabih, 2/504; Tabaqat Ibn Hidayat Allah, p. 109; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 3/82.
(3) The autograph and the works al-Ikmal and al-Tabsir vocalise the nisba as al-khadhri (with kasra on kha and sukun on dad). Al-Sam‘ani, however, maintains that the correct form is al-khadari (kha with fatha and dad with kasra); because that sounded heavy in speech, it was shortened to al-khudari. Ibn Khallikan derives it from al-Khidr in one of the two accepted pronunciations. He adds that whoever says al-Khidr (rhyming with kabd) should, by analogy, say al-khidri (with fatha on dad), just as from Namira one says namri—an established morphological rule that admits no exception.
(4) Ibn Khallikan likewise notes that al-Khadari was among the leading pupils of Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Shashi. Al-Subki, for his part, writes that al-Qaffal actually relied on al-Khadari’s legal expertise, often declaring, “I asked Abu Zayd, and I asked al-Khadari.” (See Tabaqat, 3/100.)