He died in Jumada al-Akhirah, 497 AH.
88 – Al-Isfarayini, Abu al-Faraj Sahl ibn Bishr ibn Ahmad
The shaykh, the imam, the precise hadith scholar, and tireless traveller in quest of knowledge: Abu al-Faraj Sahl ibn Bishr ibn Ahmad ibn Saʿid al-Isfarayini, the Sufi who settled in Damascus.
He heard in Egypt from ʿAli ibn Ḥimmaṣah, ʿAli ibn Munir, ʿAli ibn Rabiʿah, Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Taffal, and Hasan ibn Khalaf al-Wasiti, the companion of Abu Muhammad ibn Masi.
In Baghdad he heard from Abu Muhammad al-Jawhari.
In Damascus from Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Sulwan and Rashāʾ ibn Nazif.
In Ramla from Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Tarjaman.
In Tyre from Sulaym ibn Ayyub al-Razi.
In Tinnis from ʿAli ibn al-Husayn ibn Jabir.
In Jurjan from Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahim.
Those who narrated from him include his two sons, Tahir and al-Fadl; Jamal al-Islam ʿAli ibn al-Musallam; Hibat Allah ibn Tawus; Mahfuz the carpenter; Nasr Allah ibn Muhammad al-Miṣṣīṣī; Abu Yaʿla Hamzah ibn ʿAli ibn al-Hububi; ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Hasan; and several others.
Ghayth ibn ʿAli said: “I asked Abu Bakr al-Hafiz about Sahl ibn Bishr, and he replied, ‘Astute and truthful.’ ”
Sahl said: “I was born in Bistam in 409 AH.”