Allāh, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ayman ibn Faraj al-Qurṭubī, the travelling companion of the ḥāfiẓ Qāsim ibn Aṣbagh (1) during their quest for knowledge.
He was born in 252 AH.
He studied under Muḥammad ibn Waḍḍāḥ, Muḥammad ibn al-Jahm al-Simarī (2), Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ṣāyigh, Aḥmad ibn Abī Khaythama, Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq the judge, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Shākir, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Baghawī, Yaḥyā ibn Hilāl, and many others.
Among those who transmitted from him were ʿAbbās ibn Aṣbagh al-Ḥijārī (3), his son Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, and the students of al-Andalus.
His reputation became widespread, and he was appointed to lead the prayers in the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
Possessing keen insight in fiqh, he was an outstanding mufti, well-versed in hadith and its transmission routes. He compiled a work on the Sunan, arranging it according to Sunan Abī Dāwūd (4).
He passed away in mid-Shawwāl 330 AH.
Abū Muḥammad Hārūn of Tunis informed us, from Abū’l-Qāsim ibn Baqqī, from Shurayḥ ibn Muḥammad, from ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad the ḥāfiẓ, who said: Ḥammām ibn Aḥmad narrated to us; ʿAbbās ibn Aṣbagh narrated to us; Ibn Ayman narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr narrated to us; and Yaḥyā narrated to us