- Al-Zawzanī, Abū Saʿd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī
The shaykh and eminent musnid, Abū Saʿd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Maḥmūd ibn Mākhurra (1) al-Zawzanī—later known as al-Baghdādī—was counted among the celebrated Sufis.
He was born in 449 AH.
He studied under Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā, Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Muslimah, Abū l-Ḥusayn ibn al-Gharīq, Ibn Ḥazārmarad, Abū ʿAlī ibn Wishāḥ, and Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb.
Those who narrated from him include Ibn ʿAsākir (2), al-Samʿānī, ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn Asad, Ibn al-Jawzī, Ibn Ṭabrazad, Abū Aḥmad ibn Sukaynah, Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Nakhkhās (3), Yūsuf ibn Kāmil, and others.
He was self-indulgent, fond of jesting, and had an extraordinary memory for poetry and witty anecdotes.
Al-Samʿānī said, “He was absorbed in drinking—may Allah pardon him.” (4)
Ibn al-Jawzī (5) remarked, “People describe him as lax in matters of religion.”
Al-Samʿānī also stated, “I read a great deal to him, and Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Nāṣir told me:”