Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ardastānī. In Egypt he received ḥadith from Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḍarrāb and from a number of others; in Damascus he heard from Abū al-Qāsim al-Ḥinnāʾī and from al-Khaṭīb. Al-Khaṭīb, his own teacher, even compiled for him five well-known fascicles, all of which we have heard.

Those who transmitted from him include his son Thaʿlab; Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Samarqandī; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Anmāṭī; Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir; Abū al-Fatḥ ibn al-Baṭṭī; Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī; Salmān al-Shahhām; Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Khall; ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Yūsufī; Abū al-Faḍl, the preacher of Mosul; Shuhda bint al-Ibrī (1); and many others besides.

He wrote extensively in his own hand and authored the book Maṣāriʿ al-ʿUshshāq (2) (“The Tragic Ends of Lovers”), Ḥukm al-Ṣibyān (“The Legal Rulings Concerning Children”), and Manāqib al-Ḥabash (“The Merits of the Abyssinians”). He also composed a large body of verse on jurisprudence, exhortation, and language; his poetry is sweet and melodious across the various poetic forms. Al-Silafī selected thirty fascicles from his autograph manuscripts.

He taught in Baghdad, Egypt, and Damascus, and even his own teacher, Abū Isḥāq al-Ḥabbāl, took narrations from him.

Shujāʿ al-Dhuhlī said, “He was truthful and authored works in many fields.” Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣadafī commented, “He is a virtuous shaykh, handsome in appearance, widely known for his comprehension; he possesses expertise in language and the Qur’anic readings, though poetry predominates in him. He rendered Abū Isḥāq’s book al-Tanbīh (3) into verse and also versified a manual of pilgrimage rites.”