Al-Nasāʾī also narrated from him—through Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā—in his work al-Kunā.

The Mālikīs of Iraq learned jurisprudence at his hand.

Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb (1) said: “He was a precise scholar and jurist. He clarified the school, marshalled proofs for it, compiled al-Musnad, authored works on the sciences of the Qur’an, and collected the hadith of Ayyūb and the hadith of Mālik.

He later compiled the al-Muwaṭṭaʾ and wrote a refutation of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (2) running to some two hundred fascicles, though it remained unfinished.

He settled in Baghdad and held its judgeship until his death.

Advancing in rank, he became a leading authority and disseminated the school of Mālik throughout Iraq.

Among his writings are Aḥkām al-Qurʾān—unmatched by anything that preceded it—Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, and a book on the variant readings (3).

Ibn Mujāhid said: I heard al-Mubarrad say, “Ismāʿīl the Judge is more knowledgeable than I am in morphology.” (4)

Ismāʿīl the Judge related: “I once came to Yaḥyā ibn Aktham while a group was debating before him. When he saw me he exclaimed, ‘The city itself has arrived!’” (5)

Nifṭawayh said: “Ismāʿīl had been in correspondence with Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir…"