I (the author) say: He lived to a great age, but his temper turned sour. He went on relating ḥadīth for payment and was hard to please. The incident with al-Muḥibb has become famous: al-Muḥibb travelled to him carrying the “Banaysī fascicle” while the shaykh was sitting in his stall, whereupon the shaykh said, “I have no time right now.”

Al-Muḥibb persisted, so the shaykh left the shop and walked off; al-Muḥibb followed him and began the reading. He had not gone beyond a single folio before the shaykh reached his house, struck him twice with a stick—one blow landing on the fascicle—and then went inside and shut the door.

I read this in al-Muḥibb’s own handwriting, so the fault lies with them both!

Ibn al-Najjār said: “His auditions are sound, but he is extremely difficult and inclines toward the Muʿtazilites.” He also said: “People claim that he subscribes to the views of the philosophers, is lax about religious matters, openly foolish, and scant of learning.”

I add: In 643 AH he collapsed, fell ill, entered into decrepitude and stayed indoors. He was among the last to transmit the ḥadīth of Imām Mālik with a lofty chain—only five transmitters stood between him and Mālik (1).

He died on 11 Jumādā al-Ūlā 645 AH.

In that same year also died: Abū Madyan Shuʿayb ibn Yaḥyā al-Zaʿfarānī in Mecca; the shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥaramī al-Makkī, the copyist; the leading grammarian Abū ʿAlī ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Azdī, known as al-Shalawbīn; the prose stylist Jalāl al-Dīn Mukarram ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Anṣārī; the courtier Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Dawāmī; the emir Sharaf al-Dīn Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad al-Hadhabānī; the ruler of Mayyāfāriqīn al-Muẓaffar Ghāzī ibn al-ʿĀdil; and the shaykh of the poor, ʿAlī al-Ḥarīrī.