and he was reliable and precise.
Al-Khaṭīb relates that he inherited seven hundred dinars, so he invested the whole amount in a single purchase of paper and spent many years copying hadith—may Allah bless him and grant him peace— (1).
He died in 353 AH.
35 – Abū ʿAmr al-Ṣaghīr, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Naysābūrī *
He was the ḥāfiẓ, the imam, and the indefatigable traveller: Abū ʿAmr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī, the grammarian, better known as “al-Ṣaghīr” (the Younger).
Al-Khalīlī said, “He is a Nishapuri ḥāfiẓ.”
He heard hadith from Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī, Ḥāmid ibn Shuʿayb, and Ibn Qutaybah al-ʿAsqalānī.
I add: and from Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shīrawayh—Isḥāq’s companion—the Imām of the Imāms Ibn Khuzaymah, Abū ʿArūbah al-Ḥarrānī, Ibn Abī Dāwūd, and others of their cohort.
He was born in 289 AH.
Al-Ḥākim commented: “He combined extensive knowledge with upright character. Both father and son were called Abū ʿAmr and never left Ibn Khuzaymah’s circle. Because this one was the younger, Ibn Khuzaymah used to say, ‘Abū ʿAmr al-Ṣaghīr,’ and the name remained with him.”
Abū ʿAlī the ḥāfiẓ took him on study journeys to Iraq, al-Jazīrah, and Syria, and concluded: “He passed away in 352 AH.”