He was born in 435 AH. He learned the Ten Qur’anic readings from Abū ʿAlī Ghulām al-Harrās and studied under Abū al-Qāsim al-Hudhalī, the author of al-Kāmil. In 461 AH he journeyed to Baghdad, where he audited ḥadīth from Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Musalima, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn al-Maʾmūn, Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Muhtadī bi-Allāh, and others.
He completed a full Qur’an recitation in the reading of Abū ʿAmr with al-Awānī (1), a disciple of Abū Ḥafṣ al-Kattānī.
Al-Samʿānī said: “A great many people read to him, and students travelled to him from far-flung regions. I heard ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Anmāṭī speak ill of him and charge him with rafḍ (2), but I later found some lines of poetry by Abū al-ʿIzz extolling the virtues of the Companions.”
Ibn Nāṣir said: “He appended his audition of a section on the pronominal hāʾ endings (hāʾāt al-kināyah) of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Abī Hāshim to the transmission of Abū ʿAlī ibn al-Bannāʾ (3).”
(1) The nisba derives from *Awana*, a village ten parasangs from Baghdad, near Sarifin on the Tigris. In the author’s Maʿrifat al-qurraʾ, 1/384, he states that the shaykh heard from him a complete khatma according to the reading of ʿAsim, not that of Abu ʿAmr; Ibn al-Jazari follows him on this point (Ghayat al-nihaya, 2/128).
(2) The author writes in al-Mizan, 3/525, commenting on al-Samʿani’s words “as for *rafd* (Shiite rejectionism), no”: “He has verses exalting the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs—unless, of course, he composed them as *taqiyya* (dissimulation).” Al-Hafiz states in Lisan al-mizan, 5/144, that the verses were transmitted by Ibn al-Samʿani from Saʿd Allah b. Muhammad al-Muqriʾ, who recited them to him; he said: “Abu al-ʿIzz al-Qalansi recited for himself:
Inna man lam yuqaddim al-Siddiqan * lam yakun li hatta al-mamat sadiqan
Wa-lladhi la yaqulu qawli fi al-Faruq * ahwa li shakhsihi tafriqan
Wa-bi-nari al-jahimi baghidu ʿUthman * wa-yahwi minha makanan sahiqan
Man yuwali ʿindi ʿAliyan waʿadan * hum jamiʿan ʿadadtuhu zindiqan.”
Ibn al-Samʿani concludes: “I had thought Abu al-ʿIzz leaned toward *rafd* until I heard these lines.”
(3) In Maʿrifat al-qurraʾ, 1/385, the author comments on this report: “Some people allow such transmission provided they are certain the portion was actually heard from that man.” Ibn al-Jazari reproduces the remark and adds: “The matter is not problematic if the teacher’s own source is sound; the main reproach leveled against Abu al-ʿIzz is that he charged those who recited to him, and few scholars, in my experience, have completely avoided this practice.”