201 – al-Dūlābī (1), Abū Bishr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād
The eminent imam and accomplished ḥāfiẓ, Abū Bishr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād ibn Saʿīd ibn Muslim al-Anṣārī, known as al-Dūlābī, al-Rāzī, and al-Warrāq (the bookseller).
Al-Ḥasan ibn Rashīq heard him say, “I was born in the year 224 AH.”
He studied under Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, Aḥmad ibn Abī Surayj al-Rāzī, Ziyād ibn Ayyūb, Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr al-Jawwāz, Hārūn ibn Saʿīd al-Aylī, Mūsā ibn ʿĀmir al-Murri, Abū Ghassān Zunayj, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayya, Abū Isḥāq al-Jūzajānī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Juʿfī, Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf al-Ḥimṣī, and their contemporaries.
Among those who transmitted from him are ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim, Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī, Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥayyūyah, Abū Bakr ibn al-Muqriʾ, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Muhandis, Abū Ḥātim ibn Ḥibbān, and Hishām ibn Muḥammad ibn Qirrah.
From Hisham b. Urwah, from his father: I heard Abdullah b. Amr b. al-As say, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Allah does not take away knowledge by plucking it out of the servants; rather, He takes away knowledge by taking the scholars (in death). When no scholar remains, people will adopt ignorant leaders; they will be asked, will issue fatwas without knowledge, and will stray and lead others astray.’”
(1) In the manuscript the letter dal is vocalised both with ḍamma and fatḥa, the word “together” written above them to show both readings are acceptable. Yet the author later quotes al-Samani who transmits it with fatḥa, which is therefore preferred.
(*) Sources: al-Ansab, fol. 233b; al-Muntazam, 6/169; Wafayat al-Ayan, 4/352–353; Ibn Abd al-Hadi, Mukhtasar Tabaqat Ulama al-Hadith, fol. 131/1; al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 2/759–760; al-Dhahabi, al-Ibar, 2/145–146; al-Dhahabi, Duwal al-Islam, 1/187; al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I‛tidal, 3/459; al-Safadi, al-Wafi bi’l-Wafayat, 2/36; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, 11/145; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-Mizan, 5/41–42; al-Nujum al-Zahira, 3/206; al-Dhahabi, Tabaqat al-Huffaz, p. 319; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharat al-Dhahab, 2/260; al-Kittani, al-Risala al-Mustatrafah, p. 120.