Al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Rāfiʿ ibn Tamīm ibn ʿUtbah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAttāb al-Asadī—originally from Aleppo, where he resided, though he was born and reared in Mosul—was a jurist, a Shāfiʿī scholar, and a Qur’an reciter. He was better known as Ibn Shaddād, a name he inherited from his maternal grandfather.

He was born in 539 AH. (1)

He kept close company with Yaḥyā ibn Saʿdūn al-Qurṭubī and studied under him the Qur’anic readings, grammar, and hadith.

Among those from whom he received audition were Ḥafadah al-ʿAṭṭārī, Ibn Yāsir al-Jayyānī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭūsī, his brother—the preacher of Mosul Abū ʿAbd Allāh—Judge Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shahrazūrī, Yaḥyā al-Thaqafī, and others besides.

He travelled to Baghdad, where he heard hadith from Shuhdah al-Kātibah and a number of other scholars.

He pursued fiqh, excelled, mastered various disciplines, composed works, held leading positions, and attained eminence.

He transmitted hadith in Egypt, Damascus, and Aleppo.

Among those who narrated from him were Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Fāsī, al-Mundhirī, al-ʿAdīmī (2), his son Majd al-Dīn, Abū Ḥāmid Ibn al-Ṣābūnī, Saʿd al-Khayr Ibn al-Nābulusī and his brother, Abū Ṣādiq Muḥammad ibn al-Rashīd, and Abū