Biographical Notice of the Author — may Allah have mercy on him

Name and lineage: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir al-Nīsābūrī; his teknonym is Abū Bakr.

Birth: He was born in Nīsābūr in 242 AH. Al-Ḥākim did not mention him in his History of Nīsābūr, an omission that al-Dhahabī attributes to forgetfulness. Al-Dhahabī also remarks that “he was born around the time of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s death.”

Scholarly praise for him and for his works:
• Al-Dhahabī says in Siyar: “The Imām, the hadith master, the erudite authority, Shaykh al-Islām … the jurist who settled in Mecca and authored many works: al-Ishrāf fī Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamāʾ, Kitāb al-Ijmāʿ, al-Mabsūṭ, and others.”
• He likewise writes in Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ: “The hadith master, the distinguished scholar, the unparalleled jurist, Shaykh of the Sacred Precinct, and the author of books the like of which had never been produced.”
• Al-Subkī says: “A resident of Mecca, one of this umma’s leading luminaries and scholars; he was an imām, an independent jurist, a hadith master, a man of piety …”
• Al-Shīrāzī states: “He wrote on juristic disagreement works unmatched by anyone else; both supporters and critics were indebted to his books …”
• Ibn Shihba records: “The jurist who made Mecca his home, one of the eminent imāms whose transmissions are relied upon concerning what is lawful and unlawful; he authored books esteemed by the imāms of Islam.”
• Ibn Khallikān says: “He was a jurist, a learned man of wide reading … Among his celebrated works on the scholars’ disagreements is Kitāb al-Ashrāf, a large volume that shows how thoroughly he surveyed the schools of the imāms; it is one of the finest, most beneficial, and most enjoyable books. He also wrote al-Mabsūṭ—larger than al-Ashrāf—likewise on juristic disagreement and the positions of the schools, as well as the brief Kitāb al-Ijmāʿ.”
• Al-Dāwadī remarks: “The imām, the independent jurist who resided in Mecca, authored books unparalleled in fiqh and other disciplines, among them al-Mabsūṭ, al-Ishrāf fī Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamāʾ, and Kitāb al-Ijmāʿ …”