Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said that he was a staunch guardian of the school, a qualified mufti, and that the science of hadith and transmitter criticism predominated in him. He compiled “Ṭabaqāt Ahl Ifrīqiyah,” the book “al-Miḥan,” the book “Faḍāʾil Mālik,” the book “Manāqib Sahnūn,” and a “Tārīkh” in eleven volumes (1).

It was also said that he personally copied three thousand books with his own hand (2).

His first pursuit of knowledge was undertaken while wearing the attire of the Arab youths (3).

He was among those who pledged to rise up against the Banū ʿUbayd in the revolt of Abū Yazīd against them. When they besieged al-Mahdiyyah, the people there heard Abū al-ʿArab recite the two volumes of “al-Imāmah” by Muḥammad ibn Sahnūn. Abū al-ʿArab remarked, “I have written with my own hand three thousand five hundred books, yet by Allah, the reading of these two books here is dearer to me than everything else I have written” (4).

He died with eight days remaining in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the year 333 AH, and his son led the funeral prayer over him.

218 – Abū Maysarah Aḥmad ibn Nizār al-Qayrawānī al-Mālikī*

The jurist of the Maghrib, Abū Maysarah Aḥmad ibn Nizār al-Qayrawānī al-Mālikī, was among the scholars who practiced what they knew. Among those who studied with him was Abū Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd.