Those who transmitted from him include: al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, Baqiyy ibn Makhlad, Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī al-Ẓāhirī, ʿUmar ibn Bujayr, Yaḥyā ibn Ṣāʿid, Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad ibn Fāris, Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Hāshimī, and many others.

Abū Ḥātim said: “Reliable.” (1)

Ibn Ḥibbān stated: “He died in the year 246 AH.” (2)

I (the author) say: He actually passed away in the 290s. He is the transmitter of Aḥmad’s Kitāb al-Zuhd, and one of his high-level chains reaches me through the Banīyāsī fascicle.

68 – al-Khalīʿ Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Bāhilī

The accomplished poet Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Bāhilī, a client of the Bāhilah tribe from Basra, was nicknamed al-Khalīʿ.

He composed panegyrics for the caliphs, and his verses became widely known. He lived to a great age—long enough to recall Shuʿbah’s death—was witty and inclined to light-hearted frivolity, displayed great artistry in eloquent verse, and was a boon companion of Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī.

He died in 250 AH, a little over ninety years old. He gained the sobriquet “al-Khalīʿ” because of his playful, sometimes unbecoming behaviour. He is the one who said: