—ʿAlī al-Nasawī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdūn al-Sulamī, Abū Saʿd Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kanjarūdhī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr al-Maghribī, and ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Baḥḥāthī. From the last of these he heard Ibn Ḥibbān’s Book al-Anwāʿ wa al-Taqāsīm (The Types and Categories), and from Abū Saʿd he received the Musnad of Abū Yaʿlā.

In Herat he came to be regarded as the shaykh possessing the most elevated isnāds. His maternal uncle, the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf (1), took special care of him and, in Nīshāpūr, had him listen to the authorities just mentioned.

Al-Samʿānī (2) says: “I did not meet him, but he granted me a general authorization. He was trustworthy and devout, teaching young children. Among those from whom he heard were: Ibn Masrūr, ʿAbd al-Ghāfir (3), Abū ʿUthmān al-Ṣābūnī, Abū ʿUthmān al-Baḥīrī (4), al-Bayhaqī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿUmarī, and Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Ṭabarī.”

His recorded auditions include: al-Ḥākim’s Muʿjam, which he heard from al-Bayhaqī—al-Ḥākim transmitted it to us; the portion in Abū Saʿd’s possession (5), namely thirty-five fascicles of the Musnad of Abū Yaʿlā; the Kitāb al-Muttafiq by al-Jawzaqī (6); and the Kitāb al-Targhīb by Ḥumayd ibn Zanjawayh (7). Al-ʿUmarī informed us of these, as did Ibn Abī