- Abū ʿAlī al-Fāriqī, al-Ḥasan ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Barhūn
The shaykh, the imām, the jurist, the senior authority among the Shāfiʿīs: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Barhūn al-Fāriqī.
He was born in Mayyāfāriqīn in 433 AH. He began his legal training there with Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Bayān al-Kāzrunī, then travelled to Baghdad and kept close company with Shaykh Abū Isḥāq (al-Shīrāzī) until he excelled, outstripped his peers, and memorised al-Muhadhdhab. He next studied under Abū Naṣr ibn al-Ṣabbāgh and, under him, committed the entire al-Shāmil to memory.
Among those from whom he heard were Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Muslima, Abū al-Ghanāʾim ibn al-Maʾmūn, and others. Those who narrated from him include al-Ṣāʾin ibn ʿAsākir, Abū Saʿd ibn ʿAṣrūn, and a number of scholars.
Al-Samʿānī said: “He was an imām, ascetic, and scrupulously God-fearing, steadfast upon the truth, fearing no critic for Allah’s sake. I heard ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥasan al-Hamadhānī say:
‘Abū ʿAlī al-Fāriqī used to tell us, “Last night I reviewed such-and-such a quarter of al-Muhadhdhab; last night I reviewed such-and-such a quarter of al-Shāmil.”’”
He served as judge of Wāsiṭ, earning praise for his tenure, and remained there until his death, fully sound in all his faculties. He lived ninety-five years.