articulate, and reliable, a connoisseur of rare expressions and delightful anecdotes.
Ibn Ḥammād the grammarian said: “Thalab was more learned in language, and even in grammar itself, than al-Mubarrad, while al-Mubarrad was more versatile across all the sciences than Thalab.”
I add: He left behind numerous writings. It is related that al-Māzinī was impressed by one of his replies and said to him, “Rise, for you are al-Mubarrad,” meaning “the one who substantiates the truth”; the form with an open rāʾ then came to prevail. (1)
He was a marvel in the field of grammar. Ismāʿīl the judge used to say, “Al-Mubarrad has never seen anyone comparable to himself.”
Al-Mubarrad died at the beginning of the year 286 AH.
300 – Al-ʿUkbarī, Abū Muḥammad Khalaf ibn ʿAmr *
The shaykh, ḥadith scholar, trustworthy and eminent: Abū Muḥammad Khalaf ibn ʿAmr al-ʿUkbarī. He performed the pilgrimage and heard ḥadith from Abū Bakr al-Ḥumaydī, Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ, and Muḥammad ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Nīshāpūrī.
(1) Ibn Khallikan relates in Wafayat, 4:231, citing Ibn al-Jawzi’s Al-Alqab: “Al-Mubarrad was asked, ‘Why were you given this sobriquet?’ He replied: ‘The chief of police once summoned me to drink and converse with him. I was unwilling to go, so I went instead to Abu Hatim al-Sijistani. While I was there, the governor’s messenger arrived looking for me. Abu Hatim said, “Hide in this”—meaning the empty casing of a muzammala—so I climbed inside and he covered my head.
He then went out to the messenger and said, “He is not with me.” The messenger retorted, “I was told he entered your house.” Abu Hatim answered, “Go in and search.” The man inspected every corner of the house but never noticed the muzammala cover. When he left, Abu Hatim clapped his hands and called toward the jar, “al-Mubarrad, al-Mubarrad!” People heard the cry, and the nickname became attached to me.’”
A muzammala (with the first m pronounced mu-, the z with a-, and a doubled m) is a green clay jar used to cool water.
Additional sources: Al-Khatib, Tarikh Baghdad, 8:331-332; Ibn al-Jawzi, Al-Muntazam, 6:84; Dhahabi, ‘Ibar al-Mu’allif, 2:106; Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 11:108; Ibn ‘Imad, Shadharat al-dhahab, 2:225.