He resided in Qaraḥ Zafar (1). He authored valuable works on jurisprudence, hadith, and asceticism, which he himself narrated, together with the Sunan of al-Nasāʾī.

Ibn al-Najjār said: He was counted among the foremost jurists, the celebrated ascetics and worshippers, and the people of scrupulous piety and strenuous devotion.

Abū Aḥmad ibn Sukaynah and Ibn al-Akhdar transmitted from him to us.

Al-Samʿānī said: He settled in Baghdad—an outstanding jurist and ascetic, of excellent conduct and admirable way, dignified in spirit, generous with whatever he possessed, content with his lot, and constant in fasting and worship. He composed several books on jurisprudence in which he inserted hadiths with full chains of transmission from his teachers. I heard from him and he heard from me. He was always cheerful, humble, and possessed an extensive memorization. He and his brother shared a single turban and shirt; when one of them went out, the other stayed indoors. I once visited him with the preacher al-Ghaznawī (2) and found him without clothes, wrapped only in a waist-cloth. He apologized, saying, “We are as Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī said:

A people who, when they wash the finery of their clothes,
Remain inside their homes until the washer is done.” (3)

Ibn al-Najjār said: I heard Ḥamzah ibn ʿAlī al-Harrānī relate that our shaykh ʿAlī al-Yazdī used to say to us, “When I die, do not bury me for three days, for I fear I may only have suffered a fainting spell.”

He added: The shaykh was thin and phlegmatic. He habitually fasted the month of Rajab. A few days before it he told us, “I have retracted that instruction; when I die, bury me at once, for I saw the Prophet ﷺ in a dream saying, ‘O ʿAlī, fast Rajab with us.’”

He passed away on the first night of Rajab.