and I discovered that the volume actually belonged to Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Murabbaʿ (1). Al-Baghandī had scraped off the inscription, leaving only the word “Murabbaʿ.” At that point my regard for him cooled, and I never cited a single report from him thereafter (2).

ʿUmar ibn Ḥasan al-Ushnānī said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Khaythama—when Abū Bakr al-Baghandī was mentioned in his presence—remark, “He is reliable and possesses a vast number of hadith. If he were in Mosul you would travel to him, yet he is right here throwing narrations into your laps and you show no interest.”

Al-Dāraqutnī stated in his book al-Muṣaḥḥifīn: “My father told me that he heard Abū Bakr al-Baghandī dictating to the people in the congregational mosque. While relating one hadith he quoted the verse, ‘And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth…’ (3), but he recited it as hūyyan—ending with a yāʾ and pronouncing the hāʾ with a ḍamma.”

Al-Dāraqutnī also wrote in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ: “Al-Baghandī is a mudallis who muddles chains. He hears from some of his peers, then deletes the intermediaries between himself and the original teacher—sometimes two or three names—and he makes many mistakes.”

Al-Burqānī reported: I asked Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī about Ibn al-Baghandī, and he said, “I do not accuse him of intentional lying, but his tadlīs is malicious and he also corrupts texts; it is as though he learned the art of tadlīs from Suwayd (4).”

Hamzah al-Sahmī related: I asked Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbdān about Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Baghandī—“Is he fit to be included in a Ṣaḥīḥ?” He replied, “If I were to compile a Ṣaḥīḥ, I would…"