— the Baghdadi. Mizrifah is a village situated just short of ʿUkbarā. He was born in 439 AH. He received hadith from Abū Ḥafṣ ibn al-Muslimah and his contemporaries, and he recited the Qur’an to the pupils of al-Ḥammāmī. Among those who narrated from him are Ibn ʿAsākir, Ibn Abī ʿAsrūn, Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī, Ibn al-Jawzī (1), and Abū al-Fatḥ al-Mandāʾī. He was trustworthy and precise. He died in 527 AH.
373 – al-ʿAjalī, Abū Saʿd ʿUthmān ibn ʿAlī ibn Sharāf – the senior Shāfiʿī authority, the eminent exemplar, Abū Saʿd ʿUthmān ibn ʿAlī ibn Sharāf (2) al-Marwazī, al-Banjadīhī, al-ʿAjalī – with two fathas (3), a nisba derived from the craft of wheel-making. He was born in 435 AH, kept close company with Judge Ḥusayn, and excelled in jurisprudence.
(1) Al-Muntazam, 10/34, reports: “I heard hadiths from him; he was trustworthy, firmly reliable, learned, and of sound creed.”
(*) Main sources: Al-Tahbir, 1/549; Al-Ansab, 8/399; Mu‛jam al-Buldan, 5/106; Tarikh al-Islam, 4:272/1; Al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi‛iyyah, 7/208–209; Al-Isnawi, Tabaqat, 2/213.
(2) In the base manuscript the name is vocalised as Sharraaf (with a doubled r), whereas Al-Subki in Tabaqat records it with a single r, Sharaf.
(3) Al-Sam‛ani notes in Al-Ansab: “I found it pointed in the handwriting of Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Yasar al-Jiyani. When I asked him about this notation, he said that a discussion had taken place between us and he explained: ‘The nisba goes back to al-‛ajala, a kind of manjanun—a large wheel or contrivance turned by an ox or a horse; apparently one of his forefathers used to make it.’”