al-Samarqandi, Abu al-Hasan ibn Tawbah, and Shaykh al-Shuyukh Abu al-Barakat Ismaʿil ibn Ahmad—his maternal grandfather—as well as a number of others.

He devoted himself wholeheartedly to hadith and to the Qurʾanic readings, in which he excelled; he recited them before Abu Muhammad Sibt al-Khayyat, Abu al-Hasan ibn Mamuwaih, and Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Hamadhani.

He studied the school (1) and its points of legal dispute with Abu Mansur ibn al-Razzaz, and learned Arabic grammar from Abu Muhammad ibn al-Khasshab. He kept close company with his grandfather Abu al-Barakat and received from him the Sufi cloak (2). He also remained steadfastly with Ibn Nasir, from whom he acquired the science of transmitted reports (3) and committed to memory a wealth of valuable material.

Ibn al-Najjar (4) said: “Our shaykh Ibn Sukaynah was the shaykh of Iraq in hadith, asceticism, dignified demeanor, and adherence to the Sunnah and the way of the early generations. He lived long enough to narrate all that he had heard, and students journeyed to him from many lands. His time was carefully guarded; no hour passed without Qurʾanic recitation, remembrance, night prayer, or the audition of hadith. Whenever a reading took place in his presence, he forbade anyone to stand for him or for anyone else. He performed the pilgrimage often, spent lengthy periods in devotional residence, and was constant in ritual purity; he left his house only for the Friday prayer, the two festivals, or a funeral. He never attended the houses of worldly people for banquets or for condolences. He fasted most of the time, observed the Sunnah in all his affairs, loved the righteous, venerated the scholars, and humbled himself before people. He would frequently say, ‘I ask Allah to cause us to die as Muslims.’ He was outwardly reverent, quick to tears, and would apologise for his weeping, saying, ‘I have grown old and can no longer restrain it.’

Allah had clothed him in a splendid mantle of dignity, handsome form, agreeable appearance, the light of obedience, and the majesty of worship, and he held in people’s hearts