Ibn al-Najjār held him in great esteem.
Al-Samʿānī and Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted hadith from him.
He authored a work on the courtesies of religion and the merits of the ʿAbbāsid state, then presented it to the caliph al-Mustaʿrshid bi-Llāh, who accepted it and honored him for it.
Ibn ʿAsākir (1) said:
“Our shaykh Abū Manṣūr was one of the foremost scholars and a celebrated figure among the learned and discerning. He came to Baghdad on pilgrimage in 524 AH; none of the leading personalities there failed to go out and welcome him, and they rejoiced at his arrival. He convened a teaching session in the Palace Mosque …,” until he added: “I myself witnessed the high station he enjoyed in his homeland and the respect shown to him, to his person, and to his children.”
Al-Samʿānī (3) remarked:
“His reputation soared until he became the unrivalled authority of his time, the one to whom people deferred. More than once assailants came at him with knives, yet Allah protected him. He was devoted to abundant prayer and night-time remembrance. He was born in 458 AH.”
I (the author) say: He died suddenly on the night of Friday, the twelfth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, 536 AH.
The Two Grandsons of al-Khayyāṭ:
- Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Baghdādī*
The shaykh, the imam, the hadith transmitter, the Qur’an reciter, the righteous man, one of the last representatives of the early generations: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Baghdādī.