he says, ‘Does this Abū ʿAlī—who in truth is my own teacher?!’

Abū ʿAlī said: “I reached Baghdad and went in to see al-Firyābī, but he had already stopped transmitting hadith. I broke down in tears before him, yet he still would not relate anything to me, and I could tell he was filled with regret.”

Al-Ḥākim said: “Abū ʿAlī died in Jumādā al-Ūlā of the year 349 AH.”

I add: he lived seventy-two years, and Khurasan produced no one like him after that.

Abū ʿAlī said: “In 303 AH I asked Ibn Khuzaymah for permission to travel to Iraq. He replied, ‘Your absence will make us lonely, Abū ʿAlī. You have already travelled far, obtained high isnads, and surpassed others in memorisation; we benefit from you.’ I kept pleading until he granted me leave.

“Later Ibn Khuzaymah said to me, ‘Your journey was indeed the right decision, for the increase in your memorisation is obvious.’ After that, Abū ʿAlī authored and compiled works.”

Muḥammad ibn Ḥāzim al-Maqdisī told us; Muḥammad ibn Ghassān informed us (ح)
—and Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh told us; Zayn al-Umanaʾ al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad informed us; and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī told us; Makram ibn Muḥammad informed us; they said:

Saʿīd ibn Sahl al-Falaki told us; ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad the muʾadhdhin informed us; Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī informed us; al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī the ḥāfiẓ informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Raqqī told us; Sulaymān ibn ʿAmr al-Raqqī narrated to us; Ibn ʿUlayya narrated to us; Rūḥ ibn al-Qāsim narrated to us, from al-ʿAlāʾ, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah, believe in me and in what I have brought. When they do that, their blood and property are safe from me except…"