the Shaykh Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi; and whenever the two of them met, their gathering was a delightful outing.

I add: He enjoyed extraordinary prestige and consummate dignity, and in his own age he was compared to the great judge Abu Yusuf. Among his sons were leading scholars and judges.

He assumed the office of Chief Judge after Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Makula in the year 447 AH, at the age of fifty (1).

He died in Rajab 478 AH; he was first buried in his own house, then transferred and laid to rest beside Imam Abu Hanifa in the latter’s mausoleum (2).

He lived eighty years, three months, and five days. His body was washed by Abu al-Wafa ibn ʿAqil and by his pupil Abu Thabit al-Razi, and the funeral prayer was led by his son, the Chief Judge Abu al-Hasan.

He left numerous learned disciples who dispersed across the lands. Among them were: Abu Saʿd al-Hasan ibn Dawud ibn Babshadh of Egypt; Nur al-Huda al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Zaynabi; Abu Tahir Ilyas ibn Nasir al-Daylami; and Abu al-Qasim ʿAli ibn Muhammad al-Rahabi, son of al-Simnani.

In that same year there also passed away: the Imām of the Two Sanctuaries, Abu al-Maʿali al-Juwayni (3); the Andalusian hadith scholar Abu al-ʿAbbas Ahmad ibn ʿUmar ibn Anas ibn Dilhath al-ʿUdhri (4); Ahmad ibn ʿIsa ibn ʿAbbad al-Dinawari (5); the eminent scholar Abu Saʿd ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Maʾmun al-Mutawalli al-Naysaburi, who died in Baghdad (6); Abu ʿIsa ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad; and the Qur’an reciter