—that is, al-Husayn ibn Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Saʿid ibn Aban al-Dabbi, the Baghdadi jurist known as al-Mahamili (1), compiler of the work entitled al-Sunan (2). He was born at the beginning of 235 AH, and his first formal audition of hadith took place in 244 AH.
He heard hadith from Abu Hudhafa Ahmad ibn Ismaʿil al-Sahmi, a disciple of Malik; from Abu al-Ashʿath Ahmad ibn al-Miqdam al-ʿIjli, a disciple of Hammad ibn Zayd; as well as ʿAmr ibn ʿAli al-Fallas, Ziyad ibn Ayyub, Abu Hisham al-Rifaʿi, Yaʿqub ibn al-Dawraqi, Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna al-ʿAnazi, ʿAbd al-Aʿla ibn Wasil, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Yunus al-Raqqi al-Sarraj, al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah al-Bazzar, Rajaʾ ibn Murajja the hafiz, Saʿid ibn Yahya al-Umawi, Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al-Bukhari, al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Shuʿayb al-Harrani, ʿUmar ibn Muhammad al-Tall, Mahmud ibn Khidash, Ishaq ibn Buhlul, Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Mukharimmi, Abu al-Saʾib Salm ibn Junadah, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahim Saʿiqah, al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, Muhammad ibn ʿUthman ibn Karamah, Ahmad ibn Mansur Zaj, al-Hasan ibn ʿArafah, Ismaʿil ibn Abi al-Harith, Humayd ibn al-Rabiʿ, al-ʿAbbas ibn Yazid al-Bahrani, Muhammad ibn Jawan ibn Shuʿbah (3), Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Zanjawayh, al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Zaʿfarani, Ibrahim ibn Haniʾ al-Naysaburi, ʿAbbas al-Tarqufi, and many others.