Among those who narrated from him were Abū ʿAlī ibn Sukkara al-Ṣadafī and others, and his brother ʿAbd Allāh was considered the foremost ascetic of al-Andalus in his day.⦗1⦘
49 – Zāhir Abū Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Salīṭī*
The shaykh, ḥāfiẓ, accomplished authority, and beneficial scholar: Abū Muḥammad Zāhir⦗2⦘ ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Salīṭī⦗3⦘, from Nishapur, who was also known as ʿAbd al-Ṣamad.
He was born in Rayy, grew up there, and in his elegant script copied more material than can be described.
He heard (hadith) from: Abū ʿUbayd Ṣakhr ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī in Rayy; ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Aḥmad al-Maṭīrī⦗4⦘ in Sāwa; ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-Ghaffār al-Baṣrī; several scholars in Hamadān; Abū ʿAlī ibn al-Mudhhib; Abū Isḥāq al-Barmakī; the judge Abū Ṭayyib; al-Jawharī; and a number of others in Baghdad.
Those who transmitted from him include Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ṭuyūrī, Ibn Badrān al-Ḥulwānī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mazrafī⦗5⦘, and a group of others.
(1) Ibn Bashkuwal states in al-Sila, 1/284: “He transmitted extensively from Abu Umar Ibn Abd al-Barr but later shunned him because of the latter’s association with the ruling authorities. He also narrated from Abu Tammam al-Qatini, Abu al-Abbas al-Udhri and others. He was renowned for his learning, intelligence, piety, scrupulousness and asceticism. He died in 475 / 1082–83.”
(*) Mentioned in: Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, 9/50; al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 4/1223-1224; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 12/135; al-Suyuti, Tabaqat al-Huffaz, p. 448.
(2) Al-Muntazam, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, al-Bidaya and Tabaqat al-Huffaz mistakenly read the name as “Tah ir” with a dotted t; the correct form is “Zahir.”
(3) The nisba “al-Suliti” derives from Salit, the name of an ancestor of the person concerned.
(4) The nisba “al-Mutayri” refers to al-Mutayra, a village in the environs of Samarra that served as a recreational area for both Baghdad and Samarra.
(5) Pronounced with an open m, a silent z, and an open r, the nisba “al-Mazrifi” comes from al-Mazrifa, a large village near Baghdad. In Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 4/1223, it is corrupted to “al-Mazrufi.”