Then, on his own initiative, he sought knowledge and journeyed for it. In Mosul he auditioned ḥadith from: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿdūn al-Qurṭubī and the city’s preacher Abū al-Faḍl al-Ṭūsī; and in Damascus from: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Kinānī, Abū al-Maʿālī ibn Ṣābir, and Muḥammad ibn Ḥamzah al-Qurashī.

He attached himself to Shaykh Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī, read a great deal to him, learned from him the art of preaching, and compiled a dhayl (supplement) to the History of Baghdad—though he never completed it. He served in various administrative posts and deputised for al-Ṣāḥib Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-Jawzī in the office of ḥisba. Later he grew lukewarm toward ḥadith, indeed abandoned it altogether; yet he lived on for many years, his chains of transmission rose in loftiness, and his reputation spread, so he was granted the headship of the Mustanṣiriyya.

He used to dye his beard black, but eventually stopped.

He was the last person in his city to narrate the entire Ṣaḥīḥ, received from Abū al-Waqt, and he alone preserved several individual fascicles.

Ibn Nuqta said: “He is a shaykh of sound audition. He compiled a History for Baghdad, but never brought it to light.”

I (the author) add: He owned autograph copies from which he transmitted, yet he was strict and reluctant in granting narration.

Those who related from him include: Ibn al-Dubaythī, Ibn al-Najjār, al-Sayf Ibn al-Majd, al-Jamāl al-Sharīshī, al-ʿIzz al-Fārūthī, al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Balbān, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Kassār, the jurist Saʿīd ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭayyibī, al-Majd ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Khalīlī, al-Shihāb al-Abarquhī, al-Tāj al-Gharrafī, and others.

Through written licence (ijaza) he authorised: the two judges al-Khuwayy and al-Ḥanbalī, al-Fakhr Ibn ʿAsākir, his cousin al-Bahāʾ, Saʿd al-Dīn Ibn Saʿd, ʿĪsā al-Muṭaʿʿim, Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭālib, and Abū Naṣr Ibn al-Shīrāzī.

Ibn al-Najjār said: “He compiled a History (1), but he was not precise in the material he transmitted.”