255 – Ibn Sahl, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Sahl al-Naysābūrī

The ḥadith master, leading imam, and meticulous scholar, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Sahl ibn Baḥr al-Naysābūrī.

He heard ḥadith from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh, Dāwūd ibn Rushayd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Jumaḥī, al-Qawārīrī, Hishām ibn ʿAmmār, Ḥarmalah, and others of their rank.

He travelled widely and possessed sound, extensive knowledge.

Those who narrated from him include Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Akhram, and Abū ʿAmr al-Ḥīrī.

Al-Ḥākim said, “Among the shaykhs of our region who are his contemporaries, no one listened to more material in Syria than he did, and he is outstanding in his transmission from the Syrian authorities.”

I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Ḥāfiẓ say, “I heard Aḥmad ibn Sahl say: ‘I visited Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal during the miḥna (inquisition) and heard him declare, “Wakīʿ was the imam of the Muslims in his time.”’” Ibn Yaʿqūb relied on Aḥmad ibn Sahl completely.

I say: His ḥadith are cited in the works of al-Bayhaqī.

He passed away in 282 AH.

Among those who transmitted from Ibn Sahl are ʿAlī ibn Ḥumishādh and Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hāniʾ.

A full biography of him appears in History of Damascus. ⦗1⦘