and others besides them.

Among those who received his ijāzah was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim.

He ranked among the most reliable transmitters. Al-Khalīlī declared him trustworthy and said, “I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ relate from Sulaymān ibn Yazīd that when ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭāhir journeyed to Syria in pursuit of ḥadith, he placed his notebooks in a chest, coated it with tar, and embarked by sea. The ship was battered by a storm and pitched violently, so he cast the chest into the sea. When the vessel steadied and he disembarked, he stayed on the shore for three days beseeching Allah. On the third night he prostrated and said, ‘If my quest was sincerely for Your sake and out of love for Your Messenger, then help me by returning it to me.’

“He raised his head and found the chest lying beside him. After returning home he remained there for a time, and when people came to hear ḥadith from him he declined.

“He said, ‘I saw the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—in a dream, and with him was ʿAlī—may Allah honor him. The Prophet said, “O ʿAlī, who has dealt with Allah as Allah dealt with you on the seashore? Do not withhold the narration of my ḥadith.” I replied, “I repent to Allah.” He then supplicated for me and urged me to transmit.’”

Al-Khalīlī mentions him among the shaykhs of al-Qaṭṭān and states that he died in the early 290s AH.

47 – al-Khaffāf, ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Salām*

The ḥāfiẓ (hadith master), scholar, and trustworthy authority: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Naysābūrī, known as al-Khaffāf, who later resided in Egypt.

He narrated from Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Ribāṭī, Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ, and Muḥammad ibn