He studied jurisprudence in his own land under Abū Bakr al-Sinjī, then journeyed to the ruler of Ghazna. The latter welcomed him, his standing in Ghazna became exalted, his renown spread far and wide, students studied under him, and he produced several works (1). Nizām al-Mulk later summoned him to Herat and urged the Ghaznavids to let him go; they supplied him generously and sent him off from Ghazna with his children. He taught at the Nizāmiyya of Herat, then travelled to Nishapur as a visitor. There they honored him—though some say he did not find much favor—so he returned to Herat and narrated from Manṣūr al-Kāghadī, the companion of al-Haytham al-Shāshī (2).

He died in Herat in the year 485 AH, on the sixth of Shawwāl, at the age of eighty-eight. Others say he lived ninety-four years. As for ʿAbd al-Ghāfir, in the Sīyāq he stated that the shaykh died in Shawwāl 495 AH, but the first date is more plausible—indeed, it is the correct one. Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī recorded the same; he said, “I visited his grave in Herat. Among those who transmitted from him were Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Sinjī and Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Sulaymān al-Marwazī.”

267 – al-Bānyāsī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Mālik b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī *
The shaykh, the righteous transmitter, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Mālik b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Bānyāsī by origin, al-Baghdādī, son of the copyist.

He used to say, “Thus my father named me and gave me this kunya, while my mother called me ʿAlī and gave me the kunya Abū al-Ḥasan, so I am known by both” (3).

He heard ḥadith from Abū al-Ḥasan b. al-Ṣalt the bonesetter, Abū al-Fath b. Abī al-Fawāris, Abū al-Ḥusayn b. Bishrān, and Ibn al-Faḍl al-Qaṭṭān.