—He was born in 543 AH, or slightly earlier.
He studied the Ṣaḥīḥ with Abū al-Waqt, and also heard hadith from Abū Zurʿah al-Maqdisī, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn al-Kharrāz, Maʿmar ibn al-Fākhir, Abū al-Futūḥ al-Ṭāʾī, and a number of others.
In the closing years of his life he taught in Mecca. He began as a Hanbali, then moved to the Shafiʿi school, and later to the Hanafi. He was counted among the leading jurists—religious, scrupulous, and well versed in Arabic.
Those who transmitted from him include: Ibn al-Dubaythī; al-Sayf Ibn al-Majd; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, the preacher of al-Muṣallā; al-Majd ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Khalīlī; al-Ḍiyāʾ ʿAlī ibn al-Bālisī; the preacher ʿIzz al-Dīn Aḥmad al-Fārūthī; Abū al-Maʿālī al-Abarqūhī; and others.
Ibn al-Najjar said, “He was learned, devout, of upright conduct, and knowledgeable in grammar. He copied many works on Qurʾanic exegesis, hadith, and history, and he guarded his time carefully.”
Ibn al-Ḥājib remarked, “I found people accusing him of iʿtizāl (Muʿtazilite leanings).” Beneath this, Ibn al-Majd added, “Ibn al-Ḥājib fell short in describing our shaykh; he was an eminent scholar, and we have seen very few among the teachers like him.”
I say: He died on the last day of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 609 AH.
193 – al-Dukhwār, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥāmid al-Dimashqī*
The Shaykh of Medicine, the Professor, Muhaḏḏab al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥāmid