would sit by himself. Later, however, a faction of Persians rallied around him. He continued to narrate, and more than one person said, “We never knew anything of him but good.” He died in Shaʿban of the year 346 AH.

296 – “al-Simsār” Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad al-Aṣbahānī *
The imām and ḥadith scholar, Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad ibn Maʿbad al-Aṣbahānī, nicknamed “the Broker.”

He heard ḥadith from Aḥmad ibn Mahdī, Aḥmad ibn ʿIṣām, ʿUbayd ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ghazzāl, and the elder scholars of Isfahān.

Those who narrated from him include Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Manda, Abū Bakr ibn Mardawayh, and Abū Nuʿaym—who counted him among his earliest shaykhs.

He was a truthful shaykh.

He passed away in Ramaḍān of the year 346 AH, at a little over ninety years of age.

Ibn Khalīl’s collection preserves some of his high-isnād material.

297 – “al-Ṭarāʾifī” Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdūs **
The shaykh and trustworthy transmitter of long isnāds, Abū al-Ḥasan Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdūs ibn Salama al-ʿAnzī, of Nīshāpūr, known as “al-Ṭarāʾifī.”