Abu Bakr al-Khaṭīb said, “He was reliable, well-versed in biographies and the memorable days of the people, and he produced many writings.
In the closing years of his life he settled in Samarra and died there (1).
ʿUmar ibn Shabbah related that his father’s name was Zayd and that his nickname was Shabbah, because his mother used to rock him and chant:
‘O my little Shabbā (2)…
He lived until he could creep,
An aged, venerable khabbā (3).’
Ibn al-Munādī said, “He died in Samarra on Monday, with five days remaining of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, in the year 262 AH. He had, so it is said, passed the age of ninety.”
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Barbarī stated, “He was born at the beginning of Rajab in 173 AH and died on Thursday, with four days left of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, 262 AH, completing eighty-nine years minus four days.”
I say: He authored a large History of Basra—which I have not seen—, a Book of the Reports of Madinah (I have examined half of it, and it attests to his leadership), the Reports of Kufa, the Reports of Mecca, a Book of the Emirs, a Book on Poetry and Poets, a Book on the Reports concerning al-Manṣūr, a Book of Genealogy, and a History covering many other subjects."}