He kept company with Abū Bakr ibn Sayyid Ḥamduwayh.

Those who transmitted reports from him include Muwaḥḥid ibn Isḥāq, ʿAlī ibn al-Qujja, and Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Duqqī.

He once roamed the mountains of Lebanon in search of devoted worshippers. He related that he came upon a poor ascetic on Mount al-Lukkām wearing a patched cloak and asked him, “What are you doing here?” The man replied, “I watch and I tend.” I said, “I do not see anything in front of you.” The man’s color changed (1) and he answered, “I watch over my thoughts and I tend to the commands of my Lord (2).”

He passed away in 330 AH. Ibn Zabr records this in al-Wafayāt.

51 – al-Ashʿarī, ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq*

The distinguished scholar, the foremost of the theologians, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Bishr Isḥāq ibn Sālim ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā, descendant of the governor of Basra Bilāl ibn Abī Burdah, the son of the Messenger’s Companion Abū Mūsā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays ibn Ḥaḍḍār al-Ashʿarī—Yemeni by origin, Basran by residence.

He was born in 260 AH, though some say his birth was in 270 AH.