(1) Al-Muntazam, vol. 10, p. 276. (2) This is how the phrase appears in the base manuscript. In the copy of Al-Muntazam by Ibn al-Jawzi, from which the author is quoting, it reads: “I only dispute with one who is above the celestial sphere,” whereas in Tarikh al-Islam it is: “I am now disputing above the celestial sphere.” (3) Ibn Rajab reports from Ibn al-Najjar: “He copied many books in his own hand across the various sciences; his livelihood came from the fee he received for this copying. He never asked anyone for anything, nor did he take up residence in a madrasa. He spent most of his life of little means, with frustrated ambitions, a troubled existence and persistent poverty … At times he would confide his situation to a trusted friend, but someone with an agenda would then publicize it, claiming, ‘He objects to divine decree,’ and would impute to him matters whose reality God alone knows.” (Dhayl, 1/339-340). It seems to us that Ibn al-Jawzi disparaged him at length in his history, and not all of it was warranted. Abu al-Hasan al-Qati‘i, as cited by the hadith scholar Ibn Rajab, said: “There was deep mutual estrangement between him and Ibn al-Jawzi, and each said about the other statements whose truth God knows.” (Dhayl, 1/340). Conversely, the Baghdadi hadith scholar al-Muhibb Ibn al-Najjar praised him in his Chronicle, saying: “He produced fine works on the principles of religion, and he compiled an annalistic history that he began with the death of his teacher Ibn al-Zaghuni in 527/1133, appending it to his teacher’s chronicle. He continued writing in it until shortly before his own death, recording events and obituaries.” (Dhayl, 1/339). This history by Sadaqa was one of Ibn al-Dhibithi’s primary sources for his own continuation to the continuation of Ibn al-Samʿani; see the Introduction to Ibn al-Dhibithi’s Dhayl Tarikh Madinat al-Salam, 1/40.