al-ʿAzīz ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥalwāʾī (1).
He heard ḥadith from his own father; from ʿUmar ibn Manṣūr ibn Khnab; from the ḥadith-master Abū Masʿūd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Bajalī; from Maymūn ibn ʿAlī al-Maymūnī; and from Abū Sahl Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Abīwardī, from whom he received the Ṣaḥīḥ with the chain that al-Abīwardī had heard from Ibn Ḥājib al-Kushānī.
He also related from Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī al-Ṭabarī, the ḥadith-master Yūsuf ibn Manṣūr, and Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Kākhustuwānī (2).
He became singular in his field; his chains rose to the highest level (3) and his stature grew until people used to call him “the younger Abū Ḥanīfah.” He was knowledgeable in history and genealogy. On one occasion he was asked about an obscure question, and he replied, “I reviewed it four hundred times (4).”
Those who narrated from him include ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir al-Farghānī, and Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn
(1) Pronounced with an open ḥ and a silent l; the nisba refers to the trade of making and selling sweets. The biography of this Abd al-Aziz appeared earlier as no. 94 in section eighteen.
(2) The manuscript reads al-kakhastuwani with the un-dotted s (sin), whereas al-Ansab, al-Lubab and Mujam al-Buldan give al-kakhshtuwani with the dotted sh (shin).
(3) Al-Tahbir 1/137 states: He began attending hadith sessions in his childhood, amassed an extensive collection, and in his time was the sole transmitter from several shaykhs; he dictated prolifically and people wrote from him. He sent me an ijaza in 508 AH, obtained for me by the traditionist Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Daqaq. A large number of scholars in Khurasan and Transoxania narrated from him. He owned high-level manuscripts that have reached us only through his transmission. Al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya 1/172 lists among them the Sahih of Bukhari, which he transmitted from Abu Sahl al-Abiyurdi in 446 AH, and the Luʾluʾiyyat of Abu Muti al-Nasafi via Abu al-Qasim al-Maymuni, from Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Bukhari al-Ismaili, the compiler.
(4) Al-Muntazam 9/200 and Mirat al-Zaman 8/46 record: When asked about a particular legal question, he replied, “I repeated this issue four hundred times in a tower of the fortress of Bukhara last night.” The same sources add that whenever a student requested instruction he would begin teaching from whatever point was asked without looking at a book; when jurists encountered difficulties, they would consult him and accept his verdict and transmission.