(1) He is Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Bādīs, Abū Ishāq, known as “Ibn Qurqūl” (with a damma on both qāfs). Born in Almería, al-Andalus, in 505 AH, he was a leading scholar, widely travelled and a keen investigator; he was also a man of letters, a grammarian, and an authority on hadith and its transmitters. He studied under al-Qādī ‘Iyād, and Abū al-Qāsim al-Suhaylī, author of al-Rawd al-Unuf, was his companion. He died in Fez in 569 AH. May Allah have mercy on him. See: Wafayāt al-A‘yān, 1/62; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, 20/520; al-Wāfī bi-l-Wafayāt, 6/171. (2) Its title is Matāli‘ al-Anwār ‘alā Sihāh al-Āthār. He composed it to elucidate difficult passages in al-Muwatta’ and the collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, explaining obscure vocabulary and unfamiliar expressions in hadith. He followed the arrangement of Mashāriq al-Anwār by his teacher, al-Qādī ‘Iyād, abridging it, adding material, and supplying corrections and omissions. He carefully established its readings, refined it, and perfected it, so that it became, as al-Dhahabī said, “rich in useful insights” (al-Siyar, 20/520). Some questioned the attribution of the book to him! It was alleged that he had appropriated his teacher’s book! For the response to this allegation, see al-Ajwiba al-Mardiyya by al-Sakhāwī, 2/759–761. (3) A reads: al-Jurjānī; B reads: al-Hadlī. The correct reading is the one I have adopted, as found in Mashāriq al-Anwār by al-Qādī ‘Iyād, 1/345, and al-Adhkār by al-Nawawī, p. 340. Al-Harbī is the imam and hadith master Ibrāhīm ibn Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm, Abū Ishāq al-Harbī; his designation refers to a large quarter of Baghdad. Born in 198 AH, he was an ascetic, jurist, hadith scholar, and man of letters. He remained with Imam Ahmad for twenty years and received his scholarly training under him. He composed Gharīb al-Hadīth and many other works. He died in Baghdad in 285 AH. May Allah have mercy on him. See: Tabaqāt al-Hanābila, 1/86; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, 13/356.