He was a lifelong seeker of knowledge, skilled in a variety of disciplines.

Al-Samʿānī said: “He was a well-rounded and admirable scholar: a mufti, debater, ḥadith specialist, Qur’an exegete, preacher, man of letters, poet, and mathematician. Together with these virtues he was of upright conduct and pleasing manners, trustworthy in companionship, outwardly and inwardly clean, delightful to associate with, eloquent in speech and graceful in gesture. His sermons overflowed with witty points and valuable insights. Even in advanced age he was keen on pursuing ḥadith and learning, taking benefit from anyone he met. I wrote from him in Marw, Herat, Bukhara, and Samarqand, and he in turn wrote much from me. He secured a copy of the supplement I appended to Tārīkh al-Khaṭīb, and from Balkh he wrote to me:

O household of Samʿān—how sublime (1) your virtues are!
They have become the very headline in the scrolls of time.
Habitations beloved by those who dwelt therein—
The passing of the ages has not loosened their pillars.
Until Abū Saʿd came and reinforced them,
Raising their structure to loftier heights.
They were a refuge for the sons of ambition, then they passed away,
Leaving behind there what once had been.
Were it not for Abū Saʿd’s rank, they would have found
No proof of their glories to show mankind.
My Lord protected him from the jealous eye that strikes perfection,
So his lofty rank left nothing for envy to diminish. (2)”

I say: Abū Shujāʿ heard from al-Khalīlī the Musnad of al-Haytham al-Shāshī, Ibn Qutaybah’s Gharīb al-Ḥadīth, and the Shamāʾil, and he authored a fine treatise on the etiquette of the sick and their visitors.

Al-Samʿānī said elsewhere: “I know of no one who combined such virtues more completely than he did, together with perfect scrupulousness.” He also heard from Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Shujāʿī and from Abū Naṣr—