334 – Ibn Qurqul Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥamzī*
The Imām, erudite scholar Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bādīs ibn al-Qāʾid al-Ḥamzī, originally from Wahrān, widely known as Ibn Qurqul. He came from the village of Ḥamza (1) in the Bejaia district.
He was born in al-Mariyya, one of the towns of al-Andalus.
He studied under his maternal grandfather Abū al-Qāsim ibn Ward and under Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Nāfiʿ, narrating from both of them. He also transmitted from Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Lawāz, Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn al-ʿĀrif the ascetic, and Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥājj al-Shahīd.
He received from Abū Isḥāq al-Khafājī his Dīwān of poetry.
Widely travelled in the pursuit of knowledge, he was a reliable transmitter, jurist, dialectician, man of letters, grammarian, and a recognised authority in hadith and its transmitters, distinguished as well for his beautiful handwriting.
A number of scholars narrated from him, among them Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Shaykh and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAlī al-Sumātī (2).
He was a true repository of learning. Among his works is al-Maṭāliʿ ʿalā al-Ṣaḥīḥ (3), a book overflowing with valuable insights.