Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (19/161)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

I add: Among those who narrated from him were Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Samarqandī, Ibn Nāṣir, ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Yūsufī, Abū al-Fatḥ ibn al-Baṭṭī, Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī, and Abū al-Faḍl al-Ṭūsī, the preacher of Mosul. ʿAbd al-Ghāfir al-Almaʿī, Hibat Allah al-Shīrāzī, and ʿUmar al-Rawwāsī also heard from him. ⦗1⦘

Ismāʿīl ibn al-Samarqandī related: “I entered upon Ibn Zahraʾ while a fascicle of Ibn Rizqawayh’s traditions was being read to him. I asked, ‘In what year were you born?’ He replied, ‘In the year twelve (412 AH).’ I said, ‘But Ibn Rizqawayh died in that very year!’ So I took the fascicle and struck out the audition, whereupon he stood up and left the mosque.” ⦗2⦘

Ibn Nāṣir said, “He was a liar.”

Al-Silafī remarked, “He is the most distinguished shaykh of the Sufis I have ever met, and the one held in the greatest reverence and awe by his followers. Nothing was read to him except from an archetype. His sight failed toward the end of his life, so Abū ʿAlī al-Kirmānī copied some fresh booklets for him, and he narrated from them relying on him. He was not, however, among those who know the methodology of the hadith scholars and its finer points, ⦗3⦘ yet he himself was one of the reliable, firmly established transmitters, and his original manuscripts were as clear as the sun.”

Abū al-Muʿammar al-Anṣārī said, “He was born in Shawwāl, 411 AH, and he died …”

(1) He was also nicknamed al-Rawasi because his father used to sell sheep heads in Dehistan, and his son Umar helped him in that trade. He later switched to the study and audition of hadith through the influence of Abu Masud Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Abd Allah al-Bajali al-Razi, as detailed in a lengthy account preserved by al-Samani, al-Ansab, 6/173. (2) Al-Muntazam, vol. 9, p. 139. (3) Ibn Hajar remarks in Lisan al-Mizan, 1/228, after citing al-Silafi’s words: “Therefore, any hadith that al-Silafi narrates from him can, in general, be assumed to stem from his reliable auditions.”

قُلْتُ: رَوَى عَنْهُ: أَبُو القَاسِمِ بنُ السَّمَرْقَنْدي، وَابْنُ نَاصر، وَعَبْدُ الخَالِقِ اليُوسُفِي، وَأَبُو الفَتْحِ بنُ البَطِّي، وَأَبُو طَاهِرٍ السِّلَفِيُّ، وَأَبُو الفَضْلِ الطُّوْسِيّ خطيبُ المَوْصِل، وَقَدْ سَمِعَ مِنْهُ عَبْدُ الغَافِرِ الأَلْمَعِي، وَهِبَةُ اللهِ الشِّيرَازِي، وَعُمَر الرَّوَّاسِي (١) . قَالَ إِسْمَاعِيْلُ بنُ السَّمَرْقَنْدي: دَخَلْتُ عَلَى ابْنِ زَهْرَاءَ وَهُوَ يُقرَأُ عَلَيْهِ جُزءٌ لابْنِ رِزْقويه، فَقُلْتُ: مَتَى وُلدتَ؟ قَالَ: سَنَة اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ. فَقُلْتُ: فَابْنِ رِزْقويه فِي هَذِهِ السّنَة تُوُفِّيَ! وَأَخَذتُ الجُزْءَ، وَضَربتُ عَلَى التَّسمِيْع، فَقَامَ وَخَرَجَ مِنَ المَسْجَدِ (٢) . وَقَالَ ابْنُ نَاصر: كَانَ كَذَّاباً. وَقَالَ السِّلَفِيّ: هُوَ أَجْلُّ شَيْخ رَأَيْتُهُ لِلصُّوْفِيَّة، وَأَكْثَرُهُم حُرمَةً وَهَيْبَةً عِنْد أَصْحَابِه، لَمْ يُقرَأ عَلَيْهِ إِلاَّ مِنْ أَصلٍ، وَكُفَّ بَصَره بِأَخَرَةٍ، وَكَتَبَ لَهُ أَبُو عَلِيٍّ الكِرْمَانِيّ أَجزَاءَ طَرِيَّةً، فَحَدَّثَ بِهَا اعتمَاداً عَلَيْهِ، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ مِمَّنْ يَعْرِفُ طَرِيْقَ المُحَدِّثِيْنَ وَدقَائِقَهُم (٣) ، وَإِلاَّ فَكَانَ مِنَ الثِّقَاتِ الأَثْبَاتِ، وَأُصُوْله كَالشَّمْس وُضُوحاً. وَقَالَ أَبُو المُعَمَّر الأَنْصَارِيّ: مَوْلِدُهُ فِي شَوَّال، سَنَة إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ، وَتُوُفِّيَ

(١) وقيل له الرواسي، لان والده كان يبيع الرؤوس بدهستان، وكان ابنه عمر يعمل معه، ثم تحول إلى طلب الحديث وسماعه بسبب أبي مسعود أحمد بن محمد بن عبد الله البجلي الرازي في خبر مطول أورده السمعاني في " الأنساب ": ٦ / ١٧٣. (٢) " المنتظم ": ٩ / ١٣٩. (٣) قال الحافظ في " لسان الميزان ": ١ / ٢٢٨ بعد نقله كلام السلفي هذا: فما كان من حديث يرويه السلفي عنه فإنا نعلم في الجملة أنه من صحيح سماعاته.