righteous and prolific (1).
He passed away in Dhū al-Qaʿdah, 511 AH. Others say he died in Ṣafar, 512 AH, but the first date is the more reliable.
In that same year there also died: the preacher of Córdoba, Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Nakhkhās; Abū Ṭāhir al-Yūsufī (2), the transmitter of the Sunan of al-Dāraqutnī; the traditionist ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṣābir al-Dimashqī (3); Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Bākir al-Kātib; the long-lived Abū ʿAlī ibn Nabhān al-Kātib; the sultan Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh (4); and the ḥāfiẓ (hadith master) Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Abī ʿAmrū ibn Manda.
204 – al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad—
the shaykh, the imām, the ocean, the Proof of Islam, the marvel of the age, the adornment of the religion, Abū
(1) Al-Tahbir, 2/10, describes him as: “a pious, upright shaykh, reliable, truthful, and a prolific transmitter of hadith; he lived to an old age, narrated extensively, and his reports spread widely.”
(2) His biography has already appeared under no. 188.
(3) His biography will be given below under no. 246.
(4) His biography will be given below under no. 293.
(*) Principal biographical sources: Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari, pp. 291-306; al-Muntazam, 9/168-170; Mukhtasar al-Siyaq, fol. 20; al-Lubab, 2/379; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil, 10/491; Ibn al-Salah, Tabaqat, 21/2-23/2; Wafayat al-Ayan, 4/216-219; al-Mukhtasar fi Akhbar al-Bashar, 2/237; Tarikh al-Islam, 4/173/2-176/2; Duwal al-Islam, 2/34; al-Ibar, 4/10; Tatimmat al-Mukhtasar, 2/35; al-Mustafad min Dhayl Tarikh Baghdad, 37-38; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, 1/274-277; Uyoon al-Tawarikh, 13/plates 262-267; Mirat al-Jinan, 3/177-192; Mirat al-Zaman, 8/25-26; al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi‘iyya, 6/191-289; Tabaqat al-Ansawi, 2/242-245; al-Bidaya, 12/173-174; Wafayat Ibn Qunfudh, 266-267; al-Nujum al-Zahira, 5/203; al-Ins al-Jalil, 1/265; Miftah al-Saada, 2/332-336, 341-343, 347-350, 560-562; Asma al-Rijal by Ibn Hidaya Allah, 64; Tabaqat Ibn Hidaya Allah (MS), 69-71; Kashf al-Zunun, 12, 23, 24, 36; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 4/10-13; Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin, 1/6-53; Rawdat al-Jinan, 180.