He lived for a time in Ramla and in Damascus.

People used to say, “Junayd is in Baghdad, Ibn al-Jallāʾ is in Syria, and Abū ʿUthmān al-Ḥīrī is in Nishapur”—meaning that none of them had an equal.

Abū Bakr ad-Duqqī said, “I have never seen a shaykh more awe-inspiring than Ibn al-Jallāʾ, and I have met three hundred shaykhs. I heard him say, ‘My father never ‘made anything clear’ at all; rather, he would admonish, and his words would settle in people’s hearts, so he was called the ‘polisher of hearts.’”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Julandā related: “Ibn al-Jallāʾ was asked about love (maḥabba). I heard him reply, ‘What business have I with love? I want to learn repentance.’”

Abū ʿUmar ad-Dimashqī said: “I heard Ibn al-Jallāʾ recount, ‘I said to my parents, “I would like you to dedicate me to Allah.” They replied, “We have already done so.” I stayed away from them for a while, then came back and knocked on the door. My father asked, ‘Who is it?’ I said, ‘Your son.’ He answered, ‘I once had a son, but we gave him to Allah,’ and he did not open the door for me.’”

Ibn al-Jallāʾ also said, “The equipment of the faqir (spiritual mendicant) is to safeguard his poverty, to keep his secret, and to fulfill his obligatory duties.”

He died in 306 AH.

155 – Ibn Maṭar, Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Baghdādī*
The Imam: Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Maṭar al-Baghdādī as-Sukkarī.

He heard hadith from Dāwūd ibn Rushayd, Hishām ibn ʿAmmār, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muʿāwiya, and their contemporaries.