son of al-Qāsim son of al-Ḥasan, an ʿAlid, born in Daylam.
He was born in 304 AH and performed the pilgrimage in one of the years of the early 330s AH.
He mastered juristic opinion under Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al-Karkhī, studied speculative theology with Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Baṣrī, issued legal rulings and taught. Under the Buyid regime he was appointed naqīb of the descendants of Abū Ṭālib, carrying out that office with integrity and earning widespread praise. ʿIzz al-Dawlah showed him extraordinary deference, even kissing his hand, out of respect for his piety and the awe he inspired. He had a measure of Shīʿī inclination, though without excess.

Abū ʿAlī al-Tanūkhī relates: Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Azraq told us, “I was in the company of the Imām Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Dāʿī when Abū al-Ḥasan the Muʿtazilī asked him what he held concerning Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr. He replied, ‘I hold that the two of them are among the people of Paradise.’

‘What is your evidence?’ the man asked.

He said, ‘Their repentance has been reported, and my principal reliance is that Allah promised them Paradise.’

The Muʿtazilī then said, ‘What do you say to the one who claims that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “They are among the people of Paradise,” but also said, “Had they died (then) they would have been in Paradise; when they later acted as they did, that was revoked”?’

He answered, ‘That is untenable, for the unanimous transmission of the Muslims is that the Prophet’s glad tidings for them came first. It necessarily follows that they will meet the Day of Resurrection upon deeds that entitle them to Paradise; otherwise the announcement would not be a glad tiding at all.’ The Muʿtazilī prayed for him and approved of his answer, then added, ‘It is inconceivable to hold this for those two yet not hold the same for Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, since the glad tidings were given to the Ten (1).’

Abū ʿAlī al-Tanūkhī also says: I was present in Abū ʿAbd Allāh’s gathering when a man brought him a legal query about someone who swore an oath and thereupon pronounced a triple divorce upon his wife. He said to him, ‘Do you want me to issue a fatwa for you according to what I…’