He then returned in 580 AH (1) to his homeland. He was devoted to worship and prayer, his tongue constantly engaged in remembrance, and he ate little. His gatherings embraced Qur’anic exegesis, hadith, fiqh, and accounts of the righteous—free of rhymed prose, ornamentation, or poetry—and he was considered trustworthy in his transmission.
It was said that he completed an entire recitation of the Qur’an each day while continually fasting, breaking his fast with no more than a single round loaf of bread.
Ibn al-Dubaythi (2) stated: “He dictated a number of scholarly sessions. He was intent on goodness, prayed frequently, had an open hand in study, wide exposure to the sciences, and a firm grasp of hadith; he gathered many disciplines. He was later sent back to his homeland, where he remained devoted to worship until he died in Muharram of the year 590 AH (3).”
Al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm (4) said: “More than one person reported that his tongue was never dry of Allah’s remembrance. He died on the twenty-third of Muharram.”
Maḥfūẓ (5) ibn al-Buzūrī records in his History (6): “Abū al-Khayr…"
(1) Ibn al-Najjar reports from his ascetic teacher Abu Ahmad Abd al-Wahhab b. Sukaynah (d. 607 AH) that al-Qazwini left Baghdad only because Majd al-Din Hibat Allah, the son of al-Sahib, openly promoted rafd (Shi‘i rejectionism) there. Abu al-Khayr al-Qazwini said to Ibn Sukaynah: “God forbid that I live in a town where the Companions of the Messenger of God are reviled.” (Tabaqat al-Subki, 6/11).
(2) Dhayl Tarikh Madinat al-Salam, fols. 163–164 (Paris MS 5921).
(3) This is the version transmitted by Ibn al-Dubaythi, al-Mundhiri, Ibn al-Athir, and those who followed them. Ibn al-Najjar, however, dated the death to 589 AH; those who relied on him—including Ibn al-Mulqin in al-Iqd al-madhhab—adopted the same date. Al-Dhahabi, in Tarikh al-Islam, points out this discrepancy.
(4) al-Takmila, vol. 1, biographical notice 224.
(5) He is Mahfuz b. Matuq b. Abi Bakr al-Sadr Abu Bakr Ibn al-Bazuri al-Baghdadi, known as al-Saffar. Al-Dhahabi lists him in his Mu‘jam shuyukhihi, noting that he died in 694 AH (2, fol. 28), and provides a biography of him in the obituaries for that year in Tarikh al-Islam (Aya Sofya MS 3014).
(6) The “history” referred to is his supplement to Ibn al-Jawzi’s al-Muntazam. Al-Dhahabi praised it and quoted from it extensively in Tarikh al-Islam and other works, saying: “He compiled a large chronicle, a supplement to Ibn al-Jawzi’s al-Muntazam …”