He transmitted from Abu Ḥātim al-Sijistānī, Abu al-Faḍl al-Riyāshī, and the nephew of al-Aṣmaʿī, and for a time he occupied the teaching chair, imparting knowledge.

Those who studied under him included Abu Saʿīd al-Sīrāfī, Abu Bakr ibn Shādhān, Abu al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, Abu ʿUbayd Allah al-Marzubānī, Ismāʿīl ibn Mīkāl (1), ʿĪsā ibn al-Wazīr, and a number of others.

Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Azraq said, “I have never seen anyone with a stronger memory than Ibn Durayd. Never was a dīwān read in his presence but that he would race to recite it first, having it all by heart.” (2)

I say: He was a wonder among wonders for the strength of his memory.

Ibn Shāhīn said, “We used to visit him and would feel embarrassed by the musical instruments and drink we saw, and this was when he had grown old.” (3)

Abu Manṣūr al-Azharī said, “I entered and found him drunk, so I never returned to him.” (4)

Al-Dāraqutnī said, “People voiced criticism about him.” (5)

Abu Bakr al-Asadī remarked, “It was said: Ibn Durayd is the most learned of the poets and the most poetic of the scholars.” (6)

I say: He died in Shaʿbān 321 AH at the age of ninety-eight; may Allah pardon him.