and their peers. In Isfahan he heard from Abū Saʿd al-Maṭarriz and a number of others, and—of a slightly lower rank (1)—from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥamd.

He later arranged for his daughter Fāṭimah to receive extensive audition from Fāṭimah al-Jawzadhāniyyah while she was present, and he likewise had her hear hadith in Baghdad from the pupils of al-Jawharī. He acquired a collection of fine books and then settled in Baghdad.

Those who transmitted hadith from him include: Ibn ʿAsākir (2), al-Silafī, al-Samʿānī, al-Madīnī, ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn Asad, Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Kindī, his daughter Fāṭimah, and her husband ʿAlī ibn Najā the preacher.

He studied jurisprudence with al-Ghazālī and Arabic literature with Abū Zakariyyā al-Tibrīzī.

He died on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, 541 AH.

Ibn al-Jawzī (3) and others declared him reliable.

Al-Samʿānī (4) relates that Saʿd al-Khayr brought the maristan judge (5) a small piece of ʿūd (aloeswood). He handed it to the judge’s maid, but because of its meagre size she did not recognise it. He then came and asked, “Master, has the ʿūd arrived?” The judge replied, “No.” He said, “I gave it to the maid.” The judge questioned her; she pleaded its small quantity and produced it. The judge flung it aside and said, “We have no need of this.”

Later Saʿd al-Khayr asked him to let his son Jābir hear the Anṣārī fascicle, but he swore that he would not narrate it to him.