al-Kinānī, the Valencian who afterwards lived in Shāṭiba, an eloquent man of letters.

He was born in the year forty.

Among those from whom he heard were his own father; the chief scholar Abū Jaʿfar; Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Aṣīlī; and Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī al-ʿAish, the Qurʾān-reciter who had studied with Abū Dāwūd, from whom he also received the canonical readings.

He likewise held an authorisation from Abū al-Walīd Ibn al-Dabbāgh and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Tamīmī.

He lived for a time in Granada, then performed the pilgrimage and transmitted hadith both in al-Thaghr and in Jerusalem.

Ibn al-Abbār said: “He devoted himself to belles-lettres and reached the utmost proficiency therein. He excelled in both verse and prose, his poetry was collected, he enjoyed wide worldly success and high standing, and then adopted an ascetic life. He made three journeys to the East (1). He died in Alexandria in Shaʿbān, 614 AH.”

I (the author) add: Among those who narrated from him were al-Zakiyy al-Mundhirī, al-Kamāl al-Ḍarīr, Abū al-Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl al-Milanjī, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Khalīlī, and others.

He himself heard hadith in Mecca from al-Mayānajī and in Baghdad from Abū Aḥmad ibn Sukaynah.

A sample of his poetry reads:

Take time in every matter; never hurry—
For one who acts deliberately attains his aim, or very nearly.

And cling to the rope of God with steadfast hand;
You will be safe from the spiteful plots of those who scheme.