He heard ḥadīth from his own father, from Abū Saʿd al-Naṣrawī, from Abū Ḥassān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Muzakkī, from Manṣūr ibn Rāmish, and from a number of others.
It is also reported that he was personally present and heard from Ṣāḥib al-Aṣamm ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭirāzī.
Forty of his ḥadīths have reached us, and we have ourselves heard them.
Among those who narrated from him were Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Furāwī, Zāhir al-Shahhāmī, Aḥmad ibn Sahl al-Masjidī, and others.
Ibn ʿAqīl relates in his Funūn that ʿAmīd al-Mulk said: “Abū al-Maʿālī arrived and spoke with Abū al-Qāsim ibn Barhān about the servants of Allah—do they, in fact, possess actions of their own?”
Abū al-Maʿālī replied, “If you can find a verse that proves it, the argument is yours.” Ibn Barhān thereupon recited, “And they shall have deeds besides that which they are doing” (al-Muʾminūn 23:63), drawing out his voice and repeatedly emphasizing, “which they are doing.” He next cited, “If we had been able, we would certainly have gone out with you; they ruin themselves, and Allah knows that they are indeed liars” (al-Tawbah 9:42)—that is, they really were able.
Abū al-Maʿālī then began to seek refuge in figurative interpretation, whereupon Ibn Barhān retorted, “By Allah, you are dull (1); you twist the plain speech of Allah in order, by your interpretation, to vindicate al-Ashʿarī’s words.” Ibn Barhān overwhelmed him with proof, and he was left speechless (2).
Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī said: “Abū al-Maʿālī was, without qualification, the Imām of the Imams; consensus on his leadership prevailed throughout East and West, and no eyes have ever seen his like.”
He studied jurisprudence under his father, and when his father died Abū al-Maʿālī was twenty years old. He then taught in his father’s place, frequented al-Bayhaqī’s school, and mastered legal theory under Abū al-Qāsim al-Isfarāyinī al-Iskāfī.
He met his expenses from his inheritance and from a regular stipend of his own until fanaticism flared up between the two factions and the situation became unsettled