it from him Abu Zurʿah al-Razi.

204 – al-Kaʿbi, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Maḥmūd

The erudite scholar and leading figure of the Muʿtazilah, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Maḥmūd al-Balkhī—better known as al-Kaʿbī—was a contemporary peer of Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbāʾī. He used to draft official correspondence for one of the provincial governors, Aḥmad ibn Sahl, who was in charge of Nīshāpūr. When Aḥmad rebelled and sought the throne, his bid failed; al-Kaʿbī was arrested and kept in prison for a time. Later the Baghdadi vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā secured his release, whereupon he travelled to Baghdad and engaged in public disputations there.

Among his writings are: The Book of Doctrines (al-Maqālāt); The Book of Select Pearls (al-Ghurar); The Book on Inferring the Unseen from the Observable (al-Istidlāl bi’l-shāhid ʿalā’l-ghāʾib); The Book of Dialectic (al-Jadal); The Book of the Sunnah and the Mainstream Community; The Great Commentary (al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr); a refutation of a self-styled prophet in Khurāsān; a critique of al-Rāzī on metaphysics; and other works besides these.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Nadīm said: “He died at the beginning of Shaʿbān in the year 309 AH.” Thus he stated, yet the correct date is 329 AH, and the matter will be discussed again.

205 – al-Ḥallāj, al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr ibn Maḥmī

He is al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr ibn Maḥmī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh—though some call him Abū Mughīth—