and in Damascus he also received narrations from Abū al-Makārim ibn Hilāl and a number of other teachers. He copied a great deal and continued his studies under Ibn al-Manī.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Ḍiyāʾ said: “He grew to be the unique scholar of his time in dialectical theology. He would silence his opponents, go out to debate the Ḥanafīs, and they were pained by him. His shaykh, Ibn al-Manī, invested him with a ṭarḥah (a scholar’s scarf). Later he fell ill and became yellowish, to the point that people said he had been bewitched. He was abundantly charitable and constant in prayer, large-hearted and free of rancor. I saw the people of Jammāʿīl revere him and harbor no doubt about his sainthood and his miracles.”

I heard Imām ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār say: “A group of townspeople from Jammāʿīl—including my maternal uncle ʿUmar ibn ʿAwaḍ—related to me that turmoil once broke out in Jammāʿīl. Some factions sallied forth against others with swords while Ibn Rājiḥ was with us. They said he prostrated and prayed; they said the combatants struck one another with their swords yet the blades cut nothing. ʿUmar said, ‘I myself struck a man with my sword—a well-tempered blade—but it did not cut anything.’ They regarded this as the blessing of his supplication.”

ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥājib says in his Muʿjam: “He was an imam, hadith transmitter, jurist, devout worshipper, perpetually remembering Allah, undeterred by the blame of any critic for Allah’s sake. He had many rare anecdotes and stories, though he suffered from excessive scrupulosity in matters of purification. After the Friday prayer he would narrate from memory, and even his enemies bore witness to his merit.”

Al-Mundhirī (1) said: “He possessed a vast memorized repertoire, was careful in his acts of worship, and displayed fine character.”

I add: Among those who transmitted from him were al-Ḍiyāʾ, al-Barzalī, al-Mundhirī, al-Qūṣī, and Ibn