son of Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Rūḥ al-Iṣbahānī, the merchant, known as the son of Abū al-Futūḥ. (1)
He was born in 517 AH. (2)
He received, from Fāṭima al-Jawzdāniyya, al-Ṭabarānī’s Great Muʿjam—though with some gaps—and the Small Muʿjam; he was the last of her disciples to pass away. He also heard ḥadith from Saʿīd ibn Abī al-Rajāʾ and Zāhir al-Shahhāmī.
Among those who narrated from him were Ibn Nuqṭa, al-Ḍiyāʾ, al-Taqī ibn al-ʿIzz, al-Jamāl Aḥmad ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī Bakr, and others.
He in turn granted authorization (ijāza) to al-Burhān ibn al-Darajī, Ibn Abī ʿUmar, al-Kamāl ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, Ibn Shaybān, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Zayn, al-Fakhr ʿAlī, and al-Taqī ibn al-Wāsiṭī.
I read, in the handwriting of Ibn Nuqṭa (3): “Abū al-Fakhr Asʿad ibn Saʿīd ibn Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Rūḥ ibn al-Faraj, the merchant, showed us his birth record, and it stated (4) that he was born on the second of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah 510 AH. He was, Ibn Nuqṭa added, a righteous shaykh with sound audition.”
I say: He died on the fourth of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah 607 AH in Isfahān. With his passing the door to elevated isnāds for al-Ṭabarānī’s ḥadith was closed. The last person to receive his authorization was Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Wāsiṭī, and Ḥāfiẓ al-Ḍiyāʾ cited him frequently in his works.