Abu Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī likewise went to him, studied jurisprudence under him, and engaged him in debate. While in Damascus al-Ghazālī used to teach in the Umayyad Mosque, in the western nook that later came to be known as the Ghazālīyyah (1).

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abu al-Qāsim Ibn ʿAsākir said: He arrived in Damascus in 480 AH, remained there teaching the school of law until his death, and transmitted hadith. He was a jurist, an imam, an ascetic who put his knowledge into practice. He would accept no gifts from anyone in Damascus; rather, he lived on the income of an estate whose produce was sent to him from the Nablus region, and each day he baked a single flat loaf for himself beside the brazier (2).

Nāṣir al-Najjār—who used to serve him—told us remarkable things about his austerity, frugality, and avoidance of worldly desires.

Ghayth ibn ʿAlī al-Armanāzī said: I heard the jurist Naṣr say:

“I studied under the jurist Sulaym al-Rāzī from 437 AH until 440 AH; not a single lesson escaped me, and I was ill only one day, after which I recovered. I asked him how large the notebook (taʿlīqah) he had compiled was.

He replied, ‘About three hundred fascicles; I never wrote a single letter of it unless I was in a state of ritual purity’—or words to that effect.”

He also said: I heard someone relate that the ruler Tāj al-Dawlah Tutush ibn Alp Arslān once visited the jurist Naṣr; Naṣr neither rose for him nor even turned toward him, and the same occurred with the ruler’s son, Duqāq. The sultan asked him about the most lawful kind of wealth a sovereign may dispose of. Naṣr answered, “The most lawful is the revenue from the jizyah.” The sultan rose and sent him a sum, saying, “This is from the jizyah; distribute it among the companions.” But Naṣr would not accept it, saying, “We have no need of it.” When the messenger had gone,