Abu Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī said, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad gained distinction through his father, yet he himself occupied a recognized place in the field of knowledge. He revived his father’s scholarship by preserving the Musnad—his father had read it to him privately before reading it to anyone else. He questioned his father about the transmitters of hadith, and was given information that his father divulged to no one besides him. He never wrote from anyone except those whom his father expressly directed him to write from.

Badr ibn Abī Badr al-Baghdādī said, ‘ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad was a consummate critic, the son of a consummate critic.’

Al-Khaṭīb (1) remarked, ‘He was reliable, firmly grounded, and perceptive.’

Abu ʿAlī ibn al-Ṣawwāf stated: ‘He was born in 213 AH and died in 290 AH.’ (2)

I say: His lifespan equaled that of his father—seventy-seven years.

Ismāʿīl al-Khuṭabī reported: ‘He died on a Sunday and was buried at the end of the day, when nine nights remained of Jumādā al-Ākhira in the year 290. His nephew Zuhayr ibn Ṣāliḥ led the funeral prayer, and he was laid to rest in the Bāb al-Tibn cemetery (3). The crowd was far larger than usual.’

It was said that ʿAbd Allāh himself had instructed them to bury him there, adding, ‘I have been told that a prophet’s grave lies in that place, and to be in the neighborhood of a prophet is dearer to me than to be in the neighborhood of my father.’ (4)

ʿAbd Allāh authored a book entitled al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyya (Refutation of the Jahmites) in one volume, and another work entitled al-Jamal.