Saʿd(1) al-Naysābūrī. A companion of al-Ghazālī and of Abū al-Muẓaffar Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Khawāfī(2), he studied jurisprudence with both of them, excelled in the school, and composed works on positive law and points of dispute. Numerous colleagues completed their training under him, the leadership of the Shāfiʿī school in Nishapur devolved upon him, jurists came to him from distant districts, and his fame spread far and wide.
He wrote al-Muḥīṭ fī Sharḥ al-Wasīṭ(3) and another book entitled al-Intiṣāf fī Masāʾil al-Khilāf.
He taught at the Niẓāmiyya of his hometown and was the mentor of the later jurists, noted for his asceticism, piety, and vast knowledge.
Birth: Turaythīth, Khurasan, 476 AH.
He received ḥadith from Naṣr Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Khushnāmī, ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn Muḥammad al-Shīrawī, Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdūs al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Fityān ʿUmar ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Rawwāsī, Ismāʿīl ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Baḥīrī, and others.
Those who narrated from him include al-Samʿānī, his son, Manṣūr ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Ṭabarī, the jurist Yaḥyā ibn al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān al-Wāsiṭī, and others.