With the same chain al-Ṣūrī related to me—I heard ʿAbd al-Ghanī say:

When al-Dāraquṭnī arrived in Egypt he was still able to meet Ḥamzah ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Kinānī (1), the ḥāfiẓ, in the twilight of the latter’s life. They sat together and began reviewing their narrations, and they kept at it until Ḥamzah quoted a hadith from Ibn ʿUqda.

Abū al-Ḥasan said to him, “So you have that here?” He then opened Abū al-ʿAbbās’s register and kept reciting from the latter’s hadiths things that left Ḥamzah dumbfounded—or words to that effect (2).

Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭūsī said in his History: “Ibn ʿUqda was a Zaydī (3), specifically a Jarūdī (4); he died holding that view. I only listed him among our scholars (5) because of the sheer number of narrations he transmitted from them.”

He compiled a large History naming everyone who ever transmitted hadith, together with their biographical notices, although the work was never completed. He also authored a book entitled al-Sunan, an immense work—people said it filled an entire pack-animal’s load. Among his other writings are: Those Who Narrated from ʿAlī; Reciting the Basmalah Aloud; Reports Concerning Abū Ḥanīfah; The Consultative Council, and many other titles (6).

Ibn ʿAdī said: I heard Abū Bakr ibn Abī Ghālib state, “Ibn ʿUqda did not regard hadith as a matter of religion, for he used to prompt certain shaykhs of Kūfah to lie. He would prepare written copies for them and order them to narrate them (7).”

Ibn ʿAdī also said: I heard al-Bāghandī report something similar about him, and he said: “He wrote…"