their client, the Andalusian, the Cordoban, and the foremost musnid of Córdoba.
He narrated from his father, the imam Yaḥyā—the transmitter of the Muwaṭṭaʾ (1)—under whom he also studied jurisprudence. He then journeyed for pilgrimage and commerce and, while on his travels, heard ḥadith from Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Barqī, and a number of others.
He lived to an advanced age, so people vied with one another to take knowledge from him. He possessed great stature and abundant dignity.
Ibn al-Faradī (2) said: “He transmitted his father’s learning and, in his own land, did not study under anyone else. He was generous and intelligent, of immense social standing and wealth, accorded precedence in the consultative council, and held the undisputed leadership of the city.”
Those who narrated from him include: Aḥmad ibn Khālid, Muḥammad ibn Ayman (3), Aḥmad ibn Muṭarrif, Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm al-Ṣadafī, and his nephew Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaḥyā al-Laythī. Ibn al-Faradī continues: “The last person to transmit from him was our shaykh Abū ʿĪsā Yaḥyā—that is, his nephew.”
He passed away on the tenth of Ramaḍān in 298 AH, and his son Yaḥyā led the funeral prayer over him. The funeral was widely attended.
Ibn Bashkuwāl, in one of his writings, says: “He was wealthy, open-handed, and generous, constant in charity and benevolence, and perfect in chivalry. Once he saw an elderly, frail woodcutter and gifted him one hundred dinars.”
It is also said that on the day of his death lamentations for him were heard among every class of people, until