Aḥmad ibn al-Samarqandi; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mazrafī (1); Abū Manṣūr al-Shaybānī, the transmitter of his History; Abū Manṣūr ibn Khayrūn, the Qur’an-reciter; Badr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Shīḥī; the ascetic Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb al-Hamadhānī; Hibat Allah ibn ʿAlī al-Mujallī and his brother Abū al-Suʿūd Aḥmad (2); Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Abī Yaʿlā; Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Buwayh; Abū al-Badr al-Karkhī; Mufliḥ al-Dūmī; Yaḥyā ibn al-Ṭarrāḥ; Abū al-Faḍl al-Urmawī, and many others whose names would take too long to enumerate.

He was counted among the leading Shāfiʿī jurists, having studied under Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Mahāmilī (3) and the judge Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī.

Abū Manṣūr ibn Khayrūn (4) said: “Al-Khaṭīb told us that he was born in Jumādā al-Ākhira of the year 392 AH, and that the first ḥadith he ever heard was in Muḥarram of the year 403 AH (5).”

Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Jīlī said: “Al-Khaṭīb studied jurisprudence, mastered the variant Qur’an readings, travelled far and wide, and became close to the Chief of Chiefs (6). When al-Basāsīrī placed that dignitary under arrest, al-Khaṭīb went into hiding and set out for Tyre, where he met ʿIzz al-Dawla, one of the notable benefactors, who gave him a large sum of money.

He authored a little over fifty works and surpassed his contemporaries in memorization. A huge crowd attended his funeral. He donated two hundred dinars in charity and endowed his books, many of which were burned fifty years after his death."}