the shaykhs, the exact amount each of them had heard, and the science of ijazahs (teaching authorizations), thanks to the breadth of his experience. He kept company with Hazarasp (1) ibn ʿAwad and with Maḥmūd al-Isfahānī, yet he was not overly exacting in what he transmitted, for he accepted payment for it. He was poor, with many children and several marriages (2).

al-Samʿānī said, “He read and wrote quickly, but the characters of his script all looked alike in their poor quality. He heard from me and I heard from him. He died in Jumādā al-Ūlā of the year 543 AH.”

Ibn al-Najjār said, “He compiled the book ‘Solace for Sorrows’ in roughly three hundred fascicles—perhaps more. His two sons Yūsuf and Lamaʿah, as well as Abū Muḥammad al-Gharrād, narrated to us from him. He was truthful, though limited in understanding and learning (3).”

204 – Ibn al-Khall, Muḥammad ibn al-Mubārak ibn Muḥammad al-Baghdādī
The shaykh, the imām, the mufti, head of the Shāfiʿī school, Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Baqāʾ al-Mubārak ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Khall al-Baghdādī.
He studied jurisprudence under Abū Bakr al-Shāshī al-Mustaẓharī, then taught, issued fatwas, authored works, and benefited others,