“…like the wealth that so-and-so has been given, and I would then act as he acts; and a man to whom Allah has given wealth and who spends it for the truth. Another man says: ‘If only I had been given what so-and-so has been given, I would act as he acts.’” (1) Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar states in the Muqaddima, p. 229: Scholars disagreed over the identity of this ‘Ali. Some (reported by al-Hakim and preferred by al-Lalikaʾi and Ibn al-Samʿani) say he is ʿAli b. Ibrahim b. ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAbd al-Hamid al-Wasiti. Others (also cited by al-Hakim) maintain that he is ʿAli b. ʿAbd Allah b. Ibrahim al-Baghdadi and that he was simply referred to by his grandfather’s name. Al-Bukhari in the chapter “Answering an Invitation” transmits from ʿAli b. ʿAbd Allah b. Ibrahim, from Hajjaj b. Muhammad, a different report. Abu Ahmad b. ʿAdi suggests that the ʿAli b. Ibrahim who appears in the “Virtues” section is really ʿAli b. al-Husayn b. Ibrahim b. Ishkab, again identified through his grandfather, and that he narrated in the Musnad from his brother Muhammad. Ibn Hajar comments: the first opinion is the soundest. Al-Bukhari also records, in his Tarikh, another report from ʿAli b. Ibrahim. In Fath al-Bari he quotes al-Daraqutni to the effect that the man is ʿAli b. ʿAbd Allah b. Ibrahim, identified through his grandfather—a view likewise held by Abu ʿAbd Allah b. Mandah. (2) Later scholars did not endorse the author’s opinion; besides, the father of ʿAli b. al-Madini is ʿAbd Allah, and none of his forefathers was named Ibrahim. (*) Main references: Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-taʿdil, 7/187; al-Khatib, Tarikh Baghdad, 1/394–396; Ibn Abi Yaʿla, Tabaqat al-Hanabila, 1/265–266; Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Munazzam, 5/90–91; Ibn al-Athir, al-Lubab, 2/279; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-kamal (MS 1158); al-Dhahabi, Tadhhib al-tahdhib (MS 3/179) and Tadhkirat al-huffaz, 2/581; al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-iʿtidal, 3/447; Ibn Hajar, al-Iʿbar, 2/51; Tahdhib al-tahdhib, 9/15–16; al-Sakhawi, Tabaqat al-huffaz, 258; Ibn Abd al-Hadi, Khulasa tadhhib al-kamal, 324–325; Ibn al-ʿImad, Shadharāt al-dhahab, 2/164. (3) Phrase supplied from Tahdhib al-tahdhib. (4) Tarsus—pronounced with an open ta, ra and a rounded sin—is a city situated between Antioch and Aleppo on the Byzantine frontier. It was a favored abode of ascetics and devout Muslims because it lay on the Muslim frontier (thughur). See Yaqut, Muʿjam al-buldan.