96 – Shaydhalah Abū al-Maʿālī ʿAzīzī ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Manṣūr *

The imam, preacher, hadith scholar, and admonisher, Abū al-Maʿālī ʿAzīzī (1) ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Manṣūr al-Jīlī, a resident of Baghdad.

In Jīlān he heard hadith from Abū Saʿd Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAlī al-Tamīmī and from Shaykh al-Islām al-Ṣābūnī, both of whom had come to him as pilgrims. In Āmul, Tabaristān, he studied with the imam Abū Ḥātim Maḥmūd ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Qazwīnī. In Baghdad he learned from Ibn Ghaylān, Abū Muḥammad al-Khallāl, Abū Manṣūr ibn al-Sawwāq, Abū al-Ḥasan al-ʿAtīqī, ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Fālī, ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Shāhīn, and the ḥāfiẓ al-Ṣūrī.

He compiled for himself a Muʿjam (biographical index) and authored several treatises on preaching. Well-versed in the Shāfiʿī school, he was an eloquent, witty preacher who delighted listeners with his graceful anecdotes.

Among those who narrated from him were Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Khall, the jurist; al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Salmān; and Shuhda the Scribe. He later served as judge at Bab al-Azaj.

Al-Samʿānī said: “I heard ʿAlī ibn Ṭirād relate:

‘A villager lost his donkey at Bab al-Azaj and went in search of it. ʿAzīzī said to him, “Take the lead-rope and fasten it around the neck of whoever…’”