when it came to lending out manuscripts, and he possessed a solid grasp of jurisprudence, belles-lettres, poetry, and the histories of people. Nevertheless, he was branded by some as ill-conducted. I asked the ḥāfiẓ al-Ḍiyāʾ about him, and he replied, “A trustworthy ḥāfiẓ, beneficial in his teaching—only he is given to excessive joking with the murd (beardless youths).”

I add: he produced useful compilations, numerous writings, and accurate transcriptions of many works, and he adhered to the Ashʿarī creed.

Those who transmitted from him include al-Barzālī, al-Mundhirī, al-Qūṣī, al-Kamāl al-Ḍarīr, al-Ṣadr al-Bakrī, his son Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, and others.

He died in middle age, before the usual time for widespread narration.

Ibn al-Najjār said: “He applied himself from childhood, studied jurisprudence, read literature, and heard a great deal of ḥadith. He came to Damascus, performed the pilgrimage in 601 AH, and then travelled on to Iraq. He possessed abundant ambition, seriousness, and diligence, wrote with great speed, and was able to compose both verse and prose. Indeed, he had no equal in his day. He copied from me, and I copied from him.”

Al-Ḍiyāʾ said: “He went to bed in good health, then awoke unable to speak for several days, and died in Rajab 619 AH.”

Muḥammad ibn Makkī al-Qurashī informed us, saying: The judge Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Hibat Allah al-Shīrāzī informed us; Abū Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allah, the ḥāfiẓ, informed us; Hibat Allah ibn ʿAlī al-Būṣīrī … and he related a ḥadith.

114 – Ibn Abī al-Raddād, al-Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥusayn al-Miṣrī *
The shaykh, Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥusayn, son of Abū al-Fakhr Yaḥyā ibn Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd