—dawn, sometimes renewing his ablution seven or even eight times during the night. He would say, “Prayer is only pleasant for me so long as my limbs remain moist.” After that he would sleep a little until Fajr, and that was his consistent habit.

My maternal uncle, Muwaffaq al-Dīn, told me (1): “The ḥadith master ʿAbd al-Ghanī combined both knowledge and practice. He was my companion in childhood and my companion in the pursuit of knowledge. Whenever we vied in doing good, he almost always outstripped me. Allah perfected his merit by trying him with the harm and hostility of the people of innovation, and by granting him knowledge and the acquisition of many books—only he was not granted a long life (2).”

His brother, Shaykh al-ʿImād, said: “I have never seen anyone guard his time more carefully than my brother.”

Al-Ḍiyāʾ said: “He used the siwak so frequently that his teeth looked like hailstones.”

I heard Maḥmūd ibn Salāmah, the Ḥarrānī merchant, say: “The ḥadith master ʿAbd al-Ghanī was lodging with me in Isfahan, and he slept very little at night; rather, he would pray, recite, and weep.”

I also heard the ḥadith master say: “A man in Isfahan hosted me. After we had eaten supper, another man who had dined with us remained. When we rose to pray, he did not join us, so I asked, ‘What is wrong with him?’ They replied, ‘He is a Shamsī (3).’ My chest constricted and I said to the host, ‘You have only invited me in the company of a disbeliever!’ He answered, ‘He is a scribe and we have some use for him.’ Later that night I rose to pray, and that