ibn Khalaf ibn Shajara al-Baghdadi, a disciple of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari.
He was born in 260 AH.
Among those from whom he related hadith were: Muhammad ibn al-Jahm al-Simari, Muhammad ibn Saʿd al-ʿAwfi, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muhammad al-Raqashi, al-Hasan ibn Salam al-Sawwaq, Muhammad ibn Maslama al-Wasiti, and their peers.
Those who narrated from him include al-Daraqutni, al-Hakim, Ibn Razqawayh, Abu al-ʿAlaʾ Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Warraq, Yahya ibn Ibrahim al-Muzakki, Abu al-Hasan al-Hammami, Abu ʿAli ibn Shadhan, and others.
Abu al-Hasan Ibn Razqawayh said, “My eyes have never seen anyone like him (1); I heard him mention his own birthplace.”
Al-Khatib commented, “He was a scholar of legal rulings, Qurʾanic studies, grammar, poetry, and history, and he authored works in all these fields.
He also served as judge of Kufa (2).”
Al-Daraqutni remarked, “He was lenient; on occasion he would relate from memory things not found in his written collection. Conceit destroyed him—he preferred to rely on his own judgment and followed no one (3).”
Ibn Shajara died in Muharram of 350 AH, at the age of ninety.