—who served as vizier in Egypt after al-Afḍal. Abū Bakr also produced a treatise on the methodology of disputation, and al-Maʾmūn extolled his name and showered him with honor.

It is said that he was born in 451 AH.

He entered Baghdad during the lifetime of Abū Naṣr al-Zaynabī—​I believe he heard ḥadith from him—​and he later recounted: “In the year 478 AH, after the ʿAṣr prayer, I witnessed there a remarkable sign. We heard a tremendous roar, darkness advanced, and a wind blew the like of which I had never seen—​black, thick, its very body visible. Day turned pitch-black, every trace of light vanished, and the sun disappeared; we were left in utter darkness, no one able to see his own hand, and the people were in turmoil. We felt certain it was the Resurrection, or a sinking of the earth, or a punishment that had descended. Matters stayed like that for about the time it takes bread to bake. Then the blackness turned to a redness like blazing fire or glowing embers, and we were then convinced it was a fire Allah had loosed upon His servants, so we despaired of being saved. It lasted for a period shorter than the darkness had lasted; then, praise be to Allah, it cleared away harmlessly. People began plundering one another in the markets, snatching turbans and goods. After that the sun rose and remained visible for roughly an hour before sunset.”

I say: Among those who narrated from him were Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī, the jurist Sallār ibn al-Muqaddam, Jawhar ibn Luʾluʾ the Qur’an-reciter, the jurist Ṣāliḥ ibn Bint Muʿāfā al-Mālikī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAṭṭāf al-Azdī, Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad al-Qurawī the specialist in inheritance law, ʿAlī ibn Mahdī ibn Qalīnā, Abū Ṭālib Aḥmad al-Musallam al-Lakhamī, Ẓāfir ibn ʿAṭiyya, Abū Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAwf, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-ʿUthmānī, ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn Dulayl, and others (1).