He was born in 525 AH (1).
He studied under Jamāl al-Islām Abū ’l-Ḥasan (2), Abū Ṭālib ʿAlī ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-Ṣūrī, and Naṣr Allāh ibn Muḥammad the jurist.
Those who narrated from him include Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl al-Maqdisī, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-Kāfī, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Abī Bakr, the preacher of Ḥamāh, Muḥammad ibn al-Musallam ibn Abī al-Khauf, Yūsuf ibn Khalīl, Ismāʿīl al-Qūṣī, Khālid al-Nābulusī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥayyān al-ʿĀmirī, and others.
He issued licences to Aḥmad ibn Salāmah al-Ḥaddād, al-Fakhr ibn al-Bukhārī, and al-Kamāl ʿAbd al-Raḥīm.
Some declared him reliable, whereas Ibn Khalīl considered him weak and offered no explanation. Ibn Khalīl further stated that he died in 601 AH, on the third of Muḥarram, and that he had formerly been known as the grandson of Zayd the market inspector.
235 – ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn ʿAlī al-Maqdisī *
The Imām, scholar, eminent ḥadith master, truthful exemplar, devoted worshipper, adherent to the Athar (3), one who strictly followed the tradition,
(1) According to al-Mundhiri’s Takmila, he was born on 16 Rajab 525 AH.
(2) ‘Ali ibn al-Muslim al-Sulami.
(*) Principal biographical sources: Ibn Nuqtah, al-Taqyid, fol. 158; Ibn al-Dubaythi, Tarikh, fol. 179 (Paris MS 5922); Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi, Mirat al-zaman, 8:519-522; al-Mundhiri, Takmila, 2:778; Abu Shama, Dhayl al-Rawdatayn, p. 46; Ibn al-Sa‘i, al-Jami‘ al-mukhtasar, 9:140; al-Mustafad min dhayl Tarikh Baghdad, fols. 49-50; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, fol. 127 (Paris MS 1582); al-Mukhtasar al-muhtaj, fol. 86; al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-huffaz, 4:1372-1381; al-Dhahabi, al-‘Ibar, 4:313; Ibn Taymiya, Duwal al-Islam, 2:80; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 13:38-39; Ibn Rajab, al-Dhayl, 2:5-34; al-Suyuti, al-‘Asjad al-masbuk, fol. 110; al-Dalaji, al-Falaka, pp. 68-69; al-Suyuti, Husn al-muhadara, 1:165; Ibn al-‘Imad, Shadharāt al-dhahab, 4:345-346; and others. He is the author of al-Kamal fi asma’ al-rijal, which al-Mizzi later abridged and enriched with valuable additions; see our introduction to volume 1 of Tahdhib al-kamal.
(3) His nisba (*al-Athari*) refers to his special concern for the transmitted tradition of the Prophet, upon whom be the best of blessings and peace.