Abū Jaʿfar al-Tamīmī al-Mawṣilī, a relative—and indeed the maternal uncle—of the great Abū Yaʿlā of Mosul.

He was born in the early 180s AH.

Among the teachers from whom he heard were: Abū Bakr al-Sakūnī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAtāʾ, Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn, Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd, his brother Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd, Abū al-Naḍr, Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Asadī, and, among those of later generation, Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and the like.

Those who transmitted from him include his nephew Abū Yaʿlā, Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās “the grain-seller”, the ḥāfiẓ Yazīd ibn Muḥammad ibn Iyās, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar ibn Isḥāq al-Jābirī, and others. Indeed, most of the material in the “Jābirī fascicle” is narrated on his authority.

Ibn Iyās said: “He was a man of virtue and jurisprudence, and among the most refined of the hadith scholars we ever met. Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn both showed him great respect…”—and he went on to say:

“After ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb, people travelled to him in Mosul. I heard him relate: ‘One day Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came out, so I stood up. He said, “Do you not know that the Prophet —peace and blessings be upon him— said: Whoever likes people to rise for him, let him take his seat in the Fire (1).” I replied, “I rose toward you, not for you,” and he approved of that.’”

He died in Shawwāl 277 AH.

Ibn al-Khallāl (2) informed us; Ibn al-Muqayyar informed us; ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq informed us; he informed us