Al-Samʿani also said: His conduct while in office was commendable; he showed compassion toward his subjects. I was told that Sultan Malikshah intended to collect money from the people of Isfahan, whereupon the chief declared, “I will pay one half, and the vizier—meaning Nizam al-Mulk—and Abu Saʿd the comptroller will provide the other half.” He did not rise from his place until he had weighed out what he had pledged; in my estimation the sum exceeded one hundred thousand red dinars.
He bestowed large sums upon hadith scholars, who travelled to him from many lands.
The chief died in Rajab 489 AH, when he was in his nineties.
6 – Al-Taflisi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad
The imam, exemplar, and Qur’an reciter, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sari ibn Bannun (1), originally from Taflis, later of Nishapur, the Sufi.
Birth: Rajab 400 AH.
He received hadith from ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Bamuyah, Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Sulami, Hamzah al-Muhallabi, Abu Sadiq al-Saydalani, and several of the disciples of al-Aṣamm, and he conducted dictation sessions for a time.
Among those who transmitted from him were ʿAbd al-Ghafir ibn Ismaʿil—who spoke highly of him—Ismaʿil ibn al-Muʾadhdhin, and Wajih al-Shahhami.