and to Nishapur, where he received ḥadīth from al-Muʾayyad al-Ṭūsī and from Zaynab bint al-Shaʿrī; in Egypt he studied under the ḥāfiẓ ʿAlī ibn al-Mufaḍḍal and many others; and in Damascus under Abū ’l-Yumn al-Kindī and Ibn al-Ḥarastānī.

He said at the beginning of his History (1): “When I was still a boy I resolved to compile a supplement (al-Dhayl) to Ibn al-Samʿānī’s work, so I gathered a first draft for it. At the age of twenty-eight I set out on my travels, entering the Ḥijāz, Syria, Egypt, the frontier ports, the Jazīrah lands, Iraq, the Jibāl and Khurāsān. I read the major tomes, met the ḥuffāẓ, and was assiduous in collecting the reports of the notables of Baghdad and of all who entered the city.”

I say: he attained mastery in this science.

Those who narrated from him include Abū Ḥāmid Ibn al-Ṣābūnī, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Fārūthī, Abū Bakr al-Sharīshī, al-Gharrafī, Ibn Balbān al-Nāṣirī, al-Fatḥ Muḥammad al-Qazzāz, and others. A further group held his written authorization (ijāzah).

He became famous, writing from everyone who walked the earth and passed away—chains both lofty and humble, reports traced back to the Prophet and mere athar, verse and prose alike. He excelled, rose to the forefront, and in his homeland became the scholar to whom all pointed. He journeyed again to Isfahan in the twenties, performed the pilgrimage, resided near the Sanctuary, and produced a comprehensive History of Baghdad in which he supplemented and amended al-Khaṭīb’s work. It comprises two hundred fascicles, a clear testimony to his memory and learning. Alongside this prodigious recall he was distinguished by piety, integrity, and devotion.