Abū ʿUmar al-Kindī said: Both his father and his grandfather Aʿyan lived in Alexandria, and there they died (1).

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr related: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam compiled a book in which he abridged what he had heard from Ibn al-Qāsim, Ibn Wahb, and Ashhab; he then produced from it an even shorter volume. The Mālikīs of Baghdad rely on those two works, among others, for their studies, and they are the very texts that Qāḍī Abū Bakr al-Abharī explained (2).

I add: They also state that he authored Kitāb al-Amwāl (On Property) and Kitāb Manāqib ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (The Virtues of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz). His compositions were carried far and wide. He enjoyed great prestige, ample wealth, and a lofty rank.

Shaykh Abū Isḥāq al-Fīrūzābādī (3) said: Among Mālik’s disciples, Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam was the most knowledgeable of the variant opinions ascribed to him, and after Ashhab (4) leadership in Egypt devolved upon him.

It is reported that he gave al-Shāfiʿī one thousand dinars and raised for him two thousand dinars from two governors (5). He would endorse or discredit prospective witnesses but never bore witness himself. He was buried next to al-Shāfiʿī (6).

I add: He used to urge his son Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh to keep close company with al-Shāfiʿī.