205 – al-ʿIjlī, Abū al-Futūḥ Asʿad ibn Maḥmūd ibn Khalaf
The Imām, erudite authority, “Muftī of the Persians,” Muntakhab al-Dīn, Abū al-Futūḥ Asʿad ibn Abī al-Faḍāʾil Maḥmūd ibn Khalaf ibn Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī al-Iṣfahānī—the jurist, Shāfiʿī, and preacher.
Born: 515 AH.
He received ḥadith from Fāṭima al-Juzdāniyya, having listened to the Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr and either part of the Kabīr or all of it (1); from Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl al-Ḥāfiẓ; from Ghānim ibn Aḥmad; and from a number of others.
In his middle years he also studied in Baghdad under Ibn al-Baṭṭī.
Among those who narrated from him were Abū Nizār Rabīʿa al-Yamanī, al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Ḍiyāʾ, Ibn Khalīl, and others.
He granted ijāzah to Ibn Abī al-Khayr and to Ibn al-Bukhārī.
He was one of the foremost Shāfiʿī scholars and authored several works.
Ibn al-Dubaythī (2) said: “He was ascetic, possessed complete mastery of the school, and he used to eat—”