and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Azajī, Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn al-Maʾmūn, al-Khaṭīb, and several others, although he himself never travelled in pursuit of learning.

Al-Samʿānī said: “He was one of the renowned figures in the science of ḥadīth. He was a Hanbalī and served as the mustamli for Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā (1). The ḥāfiẓ Ismāʿīl related traditions to us from him.”

I add: He compiled a single volume on Prophetic dreams. We heard his Selected Narrations from al-Amīn al-Ṣaffār, from al-Sāwī, from al-Salafī, from him. Al-Salafī once asked him to clarify the standing of a group of narrators, and he responded with thoroughness and skill.

Al-Salafī also said: “His memorisation and expertise exceeded that of Shujāʿ al-Dhuhlī. He was trustworthy, distinguished, and authored a number of works (2).”

I further note: Those who transmitted from him include ʿAlī ibn Ṭirād the vizier and Aḥmad ibn al-Muqarrab.

I have read, in the handwriting of Abū ʿAlī al-Bardanī: “ʿUthmān ibn Dust al-ʿAllāf granted us an ijāza in the year 428 AH—the very year he died—saying, ‘Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī informed us …,’ and he then cited a ḥadīth.”

Muḥammad ibn Ṭāriq likewise informed us, saying: “Yūsuf ibn Maḥmūd told us; al-Salafī told us; Abū ʿAlī told us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik told us; al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUmar told us; Ḥāmid ibn Shuʿayb narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar told us; Sulaymān ibn Suḥaym informed me from Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maʿbad ibn ʿAbbās, from …"}