and Ibn Isḥāq (1) al-Isfarāyinī—who, in his own recension, inserted a number of well-known matns, some of which are somewhat weak—the ascetic Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān (2) al-Ḥīrī; Abū al-Walīd Ḥassān ibn Muḥammad (3) the jurist; Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Shārkī al-Harawī; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zakariyyā al-Jawzaqī (4); the Imām Abū ʿAlī al-Māsarjisī (5); Abū Nuʿaym Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Iṣbahānī (6); and others whose names do not occur to me just now (7).

Al-Dāraqutnī said, “Had it not been for al-Bukhārī, Muslim would neither have set out nor returned.” (8)

Al-Ḥākim said, “Muslim’s shop was in Khān Maḥmish, and he supported himself from his properties in Ustuwā.” (9)

I have seen some of his descendants—through the female line—still living in his house, and I heard my father say:

“I saw Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj teaching in Khān Maḥmish. He was tall, with a white head and beard, and he would let one end of his turban hang down between his shoulders.”

Abū Quraysh the ḥāfiẓ said, “We were with Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī when Muslim arrived…”