Abu Saʿd al-Samʿani said in his Dhayl (1): “Al-Silafi is reliable, God-fearing, precise, deliberate, intelligent, and a ḥāfiẓ. He has a fair command of Arabic, possesses a vast collection of hadith, and shows excellent understanding and insight into them.”

Among those who narrated from him was Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi. I heard Abu al-ʿAlaʾ Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Fadl, the ḥāfiẓ of Isfahan, say:

“I heard Ibn Tahir say:

‘I heard Abu Tahir al-Asbahani—who was a consummate craftsman in the discipline—say:

“Whenever Abu Hazim al-ʿAbdawi reported from Abu Saʿd al-Malini, he would say: ‘Ahmad ibn Hafs al-Hadithi informed us,’ or something to that effect.”’”

Al-Silafi kept company with my father for a time in Baghdad, then travelled to Syria, went on to Tyre, crossed the sea to Egypt, and in the year 558 AH granted me license for his narrations.

ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Ruhawi said: “I heard someone relate from Ibn Nasir that he said about al-Silafi, ‘In Baghdad he was like a blazing flame in the pursuit of hadith.’”

I also heard Muhammad ibn Abi al-Saqr say: “Whenever al-Silafi entered the presence of Hibat Allah ibn al-Akfani, the latter would rise to welcome him, and when he left, he would escort him.”

ʿAbd al-Qadir added: “He enjoyed prestige and commanding influence with the rulers of Egypt, even though he differed from them in creed—the reference is to the Batinite monarchs who openly professed Shiʿism (2). The just vizier Ibn al-Sallar built a large madrasa (3) and appointed him to teach there over the Shafiʿi jurists, and Ibn al-Sallar himself was inclined toward the sunnah.”