You shared with me the tender bloom of youth, then it slipped away—just as you slipped away—and life now holds no desire.
Grant that I should reach the longest span of years, or fulfill my loftiest ambitions;
how could I ever recover a youth that never returns*? Or where are you, that I might hear from you? No news reaches me.
You two have gone before me, and, were choice left to me after your departure, I would be the very first to hurry after your trail.
183 – al-Abīwardī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAṭṭār*
The shaykh, Abū al-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn Muḥammad al-Abīwardī, known as “the Perfumer” (1), is the one who transmitted Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī with two fascicles missing, through Abū Manṣūr al-Nawqānī from the author, and he completed the two fascicles through Abū ʿUthmān al-Ṣābūnī (2) by ijāzah (formal authorisation).
Abū Saʿd al-Ṣaffār heard the book from him in 517 AH, and he died a year later in Nishapur.
184 – al-Faḍl ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mahdī, surnamed al-ʿAdl, al-Maʾmūn, al-Ṣāliḥ (3).
(*) Al-Samani, Muʿjam al-Shuyukh, fols. 191b–192a; al-Tahbir, 2/23–25; al-Taqyid, fol. 189b; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 4/236. The author will reproduce his biography again under no. 296.
(1) Al-Tahbir, 2/23, says: “He was a well-known, righteous shaykh, modest and long-lived, of pleasing character; he spent his life in good works and in obedience to Allah. His shop was a meeting-place for cultured people and scholars. He lived beyond a hundred years, devoted himself to worship, and minded only what benefitted him. He granted al-Samani authorization to transmit Muʿjam Abi al-Qasim al-Baghawi, the Sunan of al-Daraqutni, and other scattered high-isnad booklets. Abu Saʿd al-Samani’s father heard hadith from him, and much material was read to him.”
(2) Al-Taqyid, fol. 189, records that al-Fadl’s audition from Abu Mansur al-Nuqani and Abu ʿUthman al-Sabuni took place in Rabiʿ al-Awwal 440 AH.
(* *) Tarikh al-Islam, 4/179; al-Dhahabi, al-ʿIbar, 4/11; ʿUyun al-Tawarikh, 13/281; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 4/14.
(3) Tarikh al-Islam describes him as “a trustworthy, famous shaykh from a family known for justice and piety; he was exceedingly scrupulous in legal testimony, one of the leading notaries, and an upright, gracious Sufi.”