He would draw from knowledge as though ladling out of a boundless sea. I heard him say, “Never have I entered a town in which ḥadith is narrated without first hearing something of it before attending to my own affairs. I memorised the book al-Bulghah on philology while I was still a boy, and I have never once slipped in language (1). As for grammar, that is thanks to ʿAbd al-Qāhir (2),” and he spoke of him with high praise.

The noble sharīf Abū al-Baqāʾ, preacher of the Sultan’s congregational mosque, told me: “Abū al-Muẓaffar would look over a long scroll only once and could then repeat it from memory.”

He continued: “Among those who were especially effusive in praising him were Abū Naṣr ibn Abī Ḥafṣ and Abū Ismāʿīl al-Athʿal of Isfahān, the two foremost secretaries of the age. While I was in Salmās I learned that he had been entrusted with oversight of the provinces, and that he was brought before Sultan Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh for a personal audience (3) while the Sultan was seated upon the throne; the Sultan trembled at his sight, collapsed, and was carried away dead (4).”

Shīrawayh said: “Al-Abiwardī heard [ḥadith] from Ismāʿīl ibn Maʿsada, ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī, Abū al-Fath al-Shīrāzī in Rayy, ʿĀṣim ibn al-Ḥasan, …,” until he said:

“He was one of the singular figures of his time, winning hearts through his excellence and filling breasts with affection. Fiercely devoted to the sunnah and its people, he left behind many writings, among them The History of Abiward and Nisā.”