the sayyid, the imam, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—an ʿAlawī, Ḥasanī, native of Medina and later resident in Egypt.

He was a man of dignity, owning considerable wealth, real estate, slaves, estates, and a wide circle of dependants. People even said that in the vestibule of his house there was always someone cracking almonds to make sweets. He was deemed worthy of the caliphate, and he would present gifts to al-Ustadh Kāfūr and to other high officials.

He possessed an extraordinary aura of majesty (1).

He died in 348 AH.

Another report maintains that he was still alive when al-Muʿizz arrived and that the latter asked him to state his lineage, though it seems more likely that the person who met al-Muʿizz was this sayyid’s son.

Still others say that the one who spoke to al-Muʿizz was the noble Abū Ismāʿīl al-Rassī (2).

279 – Ibn al-Jarrāb Ismāʿīl ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm*

The shaykh, ḥadith-scholar, and trustworthy transmitter, Abū al-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn al-Jarrāb al-Baghdādī, the cloth-merchant.

Born in Sāmarrāʾ in 262 AH.

He heard ḥadith from Mūsā ibn Sahl al-Washshāʾ, Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā, and Aḥmad ibn