280 – al-Falaki, Abu al-Muzaffar Saʿid ibn Sahl ibn Muhammad *
A freedman, senior vizier, ascetic, and righteous man, Abu al-Muzaffar Saʿid ibn Sahl ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah—originally from Nishapur, later associated with Khwarazm—was widely known as “al-Falaki.”

He studied hadith with Nasr Allah ibn Ahmad al-Khushnami and ʿAli ibn Ahmad ibn al-Akhram, the muʾadhdhin, and he eventually settled in Damascus in the Sumaysatiyya quarter (1).

Those who transmitted the fascicle (juzʾ) attributed to him include Ibn ʿAsakir, his son Bahaʾ al-Din, Abu al-Mawahib ibn Sasra, his brother al-Husayn, Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Mujāwir, Zayn al-Umanaʾ Abu al-Barakat, Muhammad ibn Ghassan, Mukram ibn Abi al-Saqr, and others.

He had served as vizier in Khwarazm under its ruler.

A man of imposing presence, courage, and energy in discharging affairs—as well as generosity and openhandedness—he later feared the monarch, so he performed the pilgrimage, distributed huge sums in charity, came to Damascus, and took up residence in the khanqah. With his own wealth he renewed its western portico, the pool, and the water-channel, and he personally assumed oversight of its endowment.