jurisprudence, and he enjoyed high standing and esteem in the eyes of the kings.
He pursued advanced study under Abū al-Maʿālī al-Juwaynī and Abū al-Muẓaffar al-Samʿānī, and his father arranged for him to hear hadith from a number of scholars.
He was born in 451 AH—some say 452 AH.
Among those from whom he received hadith were: his own father; Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Azharī; Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr al-Maghribī; the ḥākim Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Ismāʿīlī; Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥayd; Shujāʿ ibn Ṭāhir; Shabīb ibn Aḥmad al-Bastīghī (1); Ṣāʿid ibn Manṣūr al-Azdī; the Ustadh Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī; Abū Sahl al-Ḥafṣī; Yaʿqūb ibn Aḥmad al-Ṣayrafī; and several others.
He also held a written authorization from Abū Saʿd al-Kanjurūdhī.
Those who transmitted from him include: Ibn Ṭāhir in his Muʿjam; Abū al-Qāsim Ibn ʿAsākir; Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī; the judge Abū Saʿd ibn Abī ʿAsrūn; ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn al-Ṣābūnī; Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan al-Sibṭ; ʿAlī ibn Fādhashāh; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Abī al-Muṭahhar al-Ṣaydalanī; Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī; and others.
And he authored