(1) Ibn al-Athir states in al-Lubab that the nisbah is vocalised with a fatha on the hamza, a kasra on the shin, and a silent ya. It refers to Ashir, a fortress in the Maghrib. From it came Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. Abd Allah, Abu Muhammad al-Sanhaji al-Maghribi, known as Ibn al-Ashiri. He heard hadith in al-Andalus from Abu Ja far b. Ghazlun, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Abd Allah b. al-Arabi al-Ishbili, and others. He later travelled with his family to Syria, was a refined and virtuous scholar, died there in 561/1166, and was buried in Baalbek. His full biography appears in volume 20, no. 294. (2) Abd al-Mumin was the ruler of the Maghrib; he died in 558/1163 and is treated in volume 20, no. 254. Ibn Tumart is Muhammad b. Abd Allah b. Tumart, surnamed al-Mahdi al-Masmodi, the ideologue whose preaching paved the way for Sultan Abd al-Mumin; he died in 524/1130 and will be discussed later in this volume, no. 318. (3) The person meant is Abu al-Hasan Ali b. Muhammad b. Ali al-Tabari, better known as al-Kiya al-Harrasi, the Shafi i jurist; his biography comes under no. 207. (4) The nisbah Khawafi derives from Khawaf, a district of Nishapur with many villages. The figure here is Abu al-Muzaffar Ahmad b. Muhammad b. al-Muzaffar al-Khawafi, a Shafi i jurist considered the most acute dialectician of his time. He studied under Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni and became the foremost of his pupils, renowned among scholars for skilful debate and for confounding opponents. Al-Subki reports in Tabaqat, 6/202, that al-Juwayni used to say of his disciples: “In disputation, al-Khawafi provides the rigorous analysis (tahqiq), al-Ghazali the intuitive flashes (hadisiyyat), and al-Kiya the eloquent exposition (bayan).”