or a dullard.

He then compiled his judicial rulings in Egypt on the basis of the positions he himself preferred, although at first he had followed the view of Abū Thawr. He regarded uterine relatives as entitled to inherit and had initially served as judge in Wāsiṭ.

Ibn Zulāq goes on to say: “Abū ʿUbayd was the last judge before whom the amirs in Egypt would ride in person. While in Egypt he had taken a slave-girl as a concubine; she wronged him and demanded to be sold, and he was afflicted with a hernia.”

Ibn Zulāq also recorded several anecdotes that demonstrate Abū ʿUbayd’s dignity, composure, complete piety, and broad learning.

He further relates that al-Nasāʾī narrated from him in the year 300 AH.

Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī (1) said: “He was one of the Ashāb al-Wujūh; his name is cited repeatedly in al-Muhadhdhab and al-Rawḍa.”

Abū Saʿīd ibn Yūnus said: “He was the judge of Egypt and lived there for a long time. He was a marvel—never have we seen his like, neither before nor after. He studied jurisprudence according to Abū Thawr. He was removed from office in 311 AH because he wrote requesting to be relieved, sent a messenger to Baghdad to ask for his dismissal, closed his door, and abstained from passing judgments; he was therefore excused. When the decree of his removal arrived, he began to narrate hadith, dictated sessions, and then returned to Baghdad.”

He was trustworthy and precise. He transmitted hadith from Zayd ibn Akhzam, Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām, and their peers.

Al-Khaṭīb (2) said: “Ibn Ḥarbawayh died in Ṣafar of the year 319 AH, and Abū Saʿīd al-Iṣṭakhrī led the funeral prayer over him.”

310 – The martyr Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad,
the imam, ḥāfiẓ, critic, and expert, Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Abī