ibn Saʿd ibn al-Ḥasan (1) ibn al-Qāsim (2) ibn ʿAlqamah ibn al-Naḍr ibn Muʿādh, descendant of the jurist ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (3) ibn al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq—the Qurashi, the Taymi, the Bakri, the Suhrawardi, the Shafiʿi, the Sufi, the preacher, and the shaykh of Baghdad.

He was born, approximately, in Suhraward (4) in the year 490 AH.

He arrived in Baghdad around the year 510 AH, where he heard from Abū ʿAlī ibn Nabḥān the book Gharīb al-Ḥadīth (a lexicon of singular ḥadīth expressions). He also studied with Zāhir al-Shaḥḥāmī, Abū Bakr al-Anṣārī, and many others, transmitting copiously, mastering the foundational disciplines, and preaching to the people in his own madrasah.

Al-Samʿānī lavished praise on him, saying: “He studied jurisprudence at the Niẓāmiyyah, then a breeze of divine favor and success reached him and guided him to the Path. He secluded himself for a time, then returned to calling people to Allah; many became ascetic through him. He built a ribāṭ for himself on the river-bank. I attended his gatherings several times, benefited from his words, and copied from him (5).”

ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī al-Qurashī said: “He is one of the leading authorities among the Shāfiʿīs and a luminary among the Sufis. He told me that he entered Baghdad in the year 507 AH, listened to Gharīb al-Ḥadīth, studied jurisprudence under Asʿad al-Mihanī, refined his manners under al-Faṣīḥī, then chose seclusion, divested himself, went into the wilderness barefoot, performed the ḥajj, experienced many adventures, followed a harsh path of spiritual struggle, entered Isfahan, and roamed the mountains. He then kept company with the shaykh…"