and Rabīʿ al-Abrār (The Spring of the Righteous), Asās al-Balāgha (The Foundation of Eloquence), Mushtabih Asāmī al-Ruwāt (Ambiguous Names of the Narrators), Kitāb al-Naṣāʾiḥ (The Book of Counsel), al-Minhāj fī al-Uṣūl (The Method in Principles), and Ḍāllat al-Nāshid (The Seeker’s Lost Property)(1).
It is said that he lost a leg, so he would walk on a wooden peg; the limb had been lost to snow-borne frost(2).
He was an open advocate of Muʿtazilism—may Allah pardon him.
92 – al-Baḥīrī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān*
The trustworthy, righteous shaykh, the leading ḥadith transmitter of Nīshāpūr: Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Baḥīrī al-Naysābūrī.
Born: 453 AH.
He heard ḥadith from Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī, Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr al-Maghribī, Imām Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī, his own father, his uncle ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Mīkālī, Abū Sahl al-Ḥafṣī, and several others.
He alone possessed the recorded audition (samāʿ) of al-Muttafaq wa al-Muftaraq by al-Jawzaqī(3), transmitted from al-Maghribī.
(1) Among his works that have been published are: Asas al-Balagha; al-Fa’iq fi gharib al-hadith; al-Amkina wa-l-jibal wa-l-miyah wa-l-biqa‘ al-mashhura fi ash‘ar al-Arab; al-Nasaih al-kibar (also known as the Maqamat); al-Mustaqsa fi al-amthal; Nawabigh al-kalam; Atwaq al-dhahab; al-Nasaih al-sighar; A‘jab al-‘ajab fi sharh Lamiyyat al-Arab; Muqaddimat al-adab; and Rabi‘ al-abrār. For details see Ma‘jam al-matbu‘at, pp. 973-976; for manuscript copies of his unprinted works see Brockelmann, Geschichte, vol. 5, pp. 216-238; for the remainder of his writings consult Ma‘jam al-udaba’, vol. 19, pp. 133-135; Wafayat al-a‘yan, vol. 5, pp. 168-169; and Hadiyat al-‘arifin, vol. 2, pp. 402-403.
(2) See Wafayat al-a‘yan, vol. 5, p. 169, and Ma‘jam al-udaba’, vol. 19, p. 127, where a different reason for the amputation of his leg is mentioned.
(*) Al-Tahbir, vol. 1, p. 394; al-‘Ibar, vol. 4, p. 110; Shadharat al-dhahab, vol. 4, pp. 125-126.
(3) This refers to Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, who died in 388 AH; his biography appeared earlier, vol. 16, no. 364.