318 – al-Aʿmashiyy, Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdūn ibn Aḥmad*
The Imām, ḥāfiẓ, firmly reliable authority, and author: Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdūn ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿImārah ibn Rustum al-Naysābūrī, known in Baghdad as “al-Aʿmashiyy” because of his mastery of the traditions of al-Aʿmash and his special devotion to them.
He studied under Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ, Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr, ʿAlī ibn Khashram, al-Zaʿfarānī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Karāmah, Abū Saʿīd al-Ashajj, Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakīm, Ziyād ibn Yaḥyā al-Ḥassānī, Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn al-Muhallab al-Sarakhsi, and their peers.
He was counted among the foremost ḥuffāẓ.
Those who transmitted from him include: Abū al-Walīd the jurist, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd, Abū Isḥāq al-Muzakkī, Abū Sahl al-Ṣuʿlūkī, Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim, Yaḥyā ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ḥarrānī, and others.
Al-Ḥākim said: I heard Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ say,
“Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdūn narrated to us—if transmission from him is licit.” I (al-Ḥākim) added: He was also nicknamed Abū Turāb.
Al-Ḥākim continues: So I asked Abū ʿAlī, “Is what you mention due to the levity and frivolity he was known for, or because of something you found objectionable in his hadith?”
He replied, “Rather, it is on account of his hadith.”
I asked, “What did you find objectionable regarding him?”
He answered, “The report of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Faḍl.”
I said, “Others have narrated it as well,” whereupon he began to list additional reports