Ahmad ibn Salih al-Jili said, “He passed away in Jumada al-Ula of the year 542 AH. A vast crowd attended his funeral. He was the foremost shaykh of his day, and he lived on—an eyewitness—for a little over fifty years. He was also the last person in Baghdad to transmit Ibn Mujahid’s book on the variant Qurʼanic readings.
“He was a fine, virtuous shaykh, held in respect and given precedence on account of his piety, learning, and noble lineage.”
In that same year there also died: Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAli ibn al-Abanusi (1); Abu Jaʿfar al-Bitrawji (2); Abu Jaʿfar ibn al-Badhsh (3), the Qurʼan reciter; Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Ashqar (4); Daʿwan ibn ʿAli, the reciter (5); ʿUmar ibn Zafar al-Maghazili (6); Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi al-Fath al-Taraʼifi (7); the judge Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Jullabi (8); the jurist Nasr Allah ibn Muhammad al-Massisi (9); Hibat Allah ibn al-Faraj, nephew of al-Tawil (10); and Abu al-Saʿadat Hibat Allah ibn ʿAli ibn al-Shajari, the grammarian (11).