Al-Khatib said: “Abu Sahl had a playful nature and a sense of humor. I heard al-Barqani say, ‘People disliked him because of the joking they saw in him, yet he was trustworthy.’ (1)
Muhammad ibn ʿAli al-Suri related: “I heard ʿAli ibn Nasr in Egypt say:
We were once sitting before Abu Sahl ibn Ziyad. Someone picked up a knife that lay in front of him and began to inspect it. Abu Sahl said, ‘What do you want with that? Do you mean to steal it the way I stole it? This knife belongs to al-Baghawi; I took it from him.’ (2)
Abu Sahl died in Shaʿban of the year 350 AH. He had been born in 259 AH. Portions of his hadith have reached us in various collections.
300 – Al-Khutabi, Ismaʿil ibn ʿAli ibn Ismaʿil *
The imam, erudite scholar, preacher, man of letters, hadith authority, and historian: Abu Muhammad Ismaʿil ibn ʿAli ibn Ismaʿil ibn Yahya al-Baghdadi, known as al-Khutabi (3).
He heard hadith from al-Harith ibn Abi Usamah, Muhammad ibn Yunus al-Kudaymi, Bishr ibn Musa, and others.
Those who narrated from him include Abu Hafs ibn Shahin, al-Daraqutni, Ibn Manda, Ibn Razquwayh, Abu al-Hasan al-Hammami, Abu ʿAli ibn Shadhan, and others.