“On the Refutation of the Doctrine of the People of Disbelief and Religion” and numerous other works. He was born in Basra in 338 AH, settled in Baghdad, and died there in 403 AH. See: Tarikh Baghdad by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, vol. 5: 379–383; Tabyin Kizb al-Muftari by Ibn ‘Asakir, pp. 217–226; al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya by Ibn Kathir, vol. 11: 390–391; History of Arab Heritage by Fuad Sezgin, vol. 1, part 4 (Aqa’id), pp. 47–51. (1) The original manuscript reads ‘alayhi. The reading adopted in the printed edition is wa la‘allahu, which may be more appropriate. (2) As in the hadith narrated by Ibn Majah from al-‘Irbaad ibn Sariyah, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (ṣallā Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) delivered an exhortation so moving that our eyes shed tears and our hearts trembled. We said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, this is a farewell sermon; what do you entrust to us?’ He replied, ‘I have left you upon al-bayda’ (the white [path]), its night like its day; no one deviates from it after me except one who is doomed.’” This hadith appears in al-Muqaddimah under the chapter “Following the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided and Divinely Guided Caliphs,” 1/16, hadith no. 43. It is also recorded by al-Imam Ahmad in his Musnad with this wording (4/126). Al-Albani comments: “al-Hakim transmitted it through two chains, which he lists, and then declared its isnad sahih.” See al-Sunnah by Ibn Abi ‘Asim with Zilal al-Jannah in Tahrij al-Sunnah by al-Albani, 1:19–20. Ibn Rajab (d. 795 AH) expounded this hadith in Jami‘ al-‘Ulum wa al-Hikam fi Sharh Khamsin Hadithan min Jawami‘ al-Kalim, pp. 225–236. (3) In the printed edition: al-‘Ulya. (4) The words enclosed in quotation marks are additions by the editor.