—for the caravans bore along his Minor and Intermediate Compendia of Rulings.
He also produced a Major Compendium of Rulings; it is said that this one contains his complete chains of transmission—and Allah knows best.
He held the post of Friday–sermon preacher in Bijāyah.
The ḥadith master Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Balansī al-Abbār (1) remarks:
“He was a jurist and ḥadith memoriser, learned in traditions and their hidden flaws, well-versed in the biographies of narrators; he was characterised by virtue, righteousness, asceticism, scrupulousness, steadfast adherence to the sunnah, and little concern for worldly gains. He had a share of literature and composed poetry. He compiled two collections on legal rulings, a Major and a Minor. The first to attempt such a work was the jurist Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn Abī Marwān, the martyr of Labla, yet it was Imām ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq who gained the wider acclaim.”
I add: he prepared a Harmonisation of the Two Ṣaḥīḥs without isnāds, following Muslim’s order; he executed it with precision and excellence.
Al-Abbār (2) also says: “He produced a large compilation that combines the Six Books, a work entitled al-Muʿtal min al-Ḥadīth, another on Heart-Softening Narrations, and other writings besides.”
I say: he likewise authored al-ʿĀqiba, a book of admonition and ascetic counsel.
Al-Abbār continues: “In linguistics he wrote an extensive volume that rivalled Abū ʿUbayd al-Harawī’s al-Gharībain; several of our own teachers transmitted it to us from him.
He was born in 510 AH and died in Bijāyah—after an ordeal inflicted on him by the authorities—in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 581 AH.”
I add: Among those who narrated from him was the preacher of Jerusalem, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad