—he attests to the soundness of what I have related and adds further details. In the same way, there was between them and his companion Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Mujahid (1), and that companion’s companion Abu Bakr ibn al-Tayyib (2), such constant association and sharing of food that it clearly exposes the abundance of fabrication and falsehood coming from al-Ahwazi.
He said (3): Shaykh Abu al-Fadl ibn Abi Saʿd al-Bazzar told me, on the authority of Abu Muhammad Rizq Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Tamimi, the Hanbali (4). He said, “I asked the sharif Abu ʿAli Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Musa al-Hashimi (5), and he replied: ‘I was present in the house of our shaykh Abu al-Hasan ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn al-Harith al-Tamimi (6) in the year 370 AH at a banquet he arranged for his companions; among those in attendance was Abu Bakr…’”
= al-Hanbali. He died in 554 AH. See: al-Muntazam by Ibn al-Jawzi, vol. 10, p. 190; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya by Ibn Kathir, vol. 12, p. 256; al-Zail ’ala Tabaqat al-Hanabila by Ibn Rajab, vol. 1, pp. 232–233.
(1) He is Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Mujahid al-Tay’i. His biography was given above.
(2) His biography was given above. In Naqd al-Mantiq (p. 137), the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) notes the well-known relationship and companionship between Abu al-Hasan al-Tamimi and the qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Baqillani. See also Ibn ‘Asakir’s account of the Tamimi circle’s association with Abu ‘Abd Allah ibn Mujahid and ibn al-Baqillani in Tabyin Kathib al-Muftari (p. 221), and what he adds a few lines later in the same work (p. 390).
(3) The speaker is Ibn ‘Asakir; this is an insertion by the Shaykh. The discussion continues directly from what precedes in Tabyin Kathib al-Muftari.
(4) In all manuscripts: “Ibn.” The reading established in Tabyin Kathib al-Muftari is correct. His biography was given above.
(5) See note (1) above.
(6) He is Abu al-Hasan ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn al-Harith ibn Asad al-Tamimi al-Hanbali, one of the Hanbali jurists who composed works on principles (usul), legal chapters (furu‘), and inheritance (fara’id). He died in 371 AH. See: Tarikh Baghdad by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, vol. 10, pp. 461–462; Tabaqat al-Hanabila by Ibn Abi Ya‘la, vol. 2, p. 139; Mizan al-I‘tidal by al-Dhahabi, vol. 2, p. 624.