He informed me: “Abū al-Qāsim, the ḥāfiẓ, who dictated ḥadīth at Minā, was one of the most accomplished memorisers I have ever seen. Our teacher, the Imām Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad, preferred him to everyone we had met. He travelled to Isfahān and stayed in my house, and I have never seen a young man more retentive, more scrupulous, or more exact than he. He was a jurist, a man of letters, and a committed Sunnī. I asked him why he had delayed his journey to Isfahān; he said, ‘I sought my mother’s permission to go, but she did not grant it.’ (1)

Al-Samʿānī said: “Abū al-Qāsim possessed vast learning and abundant merit; he was a meticulous ḥāfiẓ, devout and upright, dignified in manner. He combined mastery of the texts with expertise in the chains of transmission, recited flawlessly, and was thorough and cautious … until he said: ‘He collected what none of his peers collected and surpassed them all. He entered Nīshāpūr a month before I did; I narrated from him and he from me. I heard his Muʿjam from him, and in Damascus he procured a copy of it for me. He had begun compiling The Great History of Damascus, and afterwards his books would reach me and I would send back my replies.’ (2)

I heard the ḥāfiẓ ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad say: I heard the ḥāfiẓ (3) Abū Muḥammad al-Mundhirī say: “I asked our shaykh, the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Mufaḍḍal, about four scholars who were contemporaries. He said, ‘Who are they?’

“I said, ‘The ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir and the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Nāṣir.’
“He replied, ‘Ibn ʿAsākir has the stronger memory.’

“I said, ‘(What of) Ibn ʿAsākir and Abū Mūsā al-Madanī?’
“He said, ‘Ibn ʿAsākir.’

“I said, ‘(What of) Ibn ʿAsākir and Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī?’
“He said, ‘Al-Silafī is our shaykh, al-Silafī is our shaykh.’ (4)

“I commented: He indicated that Ibn ʿAsākir was the more retentive, but he observed courtesy toward his own teacher and worded it that way.”