Among those who transmitted from him were Ibn ʿUqda, the judge al-Mahamili, Muhammad ibn Makhlad, Daʿlaj al-Sijzi, Abu Bakr al-Shafiʿi, al-Tabarani, Abu ʿAli ibn al-Sawwaf, Abu ʿUmar ibn Hayyawayh, Abu Hafs ibn Shahin, ʿAli ibn ʿUmar al-Sukkari, Muhammad ibn al-Muzaffar, Abu Ahmad al-Hakim, Abu Bakr ibn al-Muqriʾ, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ʿAbdan, Abu Bakr al-Ismaʿili, Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Bahiri al-Naysaburi, and many others besides.
Abu Bakr al-Khatib (1) said: “He travelled in search of hadith to distant lands, dedicated himself to it with exceptional care, and studied under the foremost ḥuffāẓ and imams. He was a ḥāfiẓ, intelligent and well-versed. I heard Ahmad ibn ʿAli al-Badā (2) in discussion saying:
‘I heard Abu Bakr al-Abharī say: I heard Abu Bakr al-Baghandī say, “I am able to answer three hundred thousand questions on the basis of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.”’
I conveyed al-Abharī’s statement to Ibn al-Muzaffar, and he said, ‘He has spoken the truth; I heard it from him myself.’
Al-Khatib added: I also heard Hibat Allah al-Lalakaʾī say, ‘Al-Baghandī would reel off hadith from memory, reciting it with the fluency of someone rapidly reading the Qur’an. He would keep repeating, “So-and-so narrated to us, who said, ‘So-and-so narrated to us,’ and so-and-so narrated to us,” while moving his head until his turban slipped off.’
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Munʿim informed us; ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Muhammad, the judge, in person, informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Sulami informed us; Ibn Ṭalāb informed us; Ibn