and Muhammad ibn al-Mubarak al-Suri (1),
Qabisa ibn ʿUqbah (2),
ʿAli ibn al-Hasan ibn Shiqiq (3),
and Makki ibn Ibrahim (4).
As for Abu Zayd al-Ansari (5), he was Saʿid ibn Aws ibn Thabit, the Basran linguist, counted among the most trustworthy authorities. It is also said that he used to witness Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree).
Abu ʿUthman al-Mazni reported: “I saw al-Asmaʿi come to Abu Zayd al-Ansari’s gathering, kiss his head, sit before him, and say, ‘He has been our leader and master for fifty years’ (6).”
Qadi Ibn Khallikan (7) noted that Abu Zayd left behind numerous works, among them Khalq al-Insan (The Creation of Man), Kitab al-Ibil (The Book of Camels), Kitab al-Miyah (The Book of Waters), al-Qaws wa’l-Tirs (The Bow and the Shield), and others besides.
He died in this very year, though some report that it was the year before or the year after. He had passed ninety years of age, and some say he was close to one hundred (8).
= And before this in manuscript A: Abu Sulayman al-Darani, whose biography the author provided under the events of 205 AH.
(1) Abu Abd Allah: the hafiz, student of Saʿid ibn ’Abd al-Aziz; jurist and mufti of Damascus; trustworthy. His hadith transmissions appear in the six canonical collections. References: al-Ibar 1:367; Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʼ 10:390.
(2) Qubaysa ibn ’Uqba al-Suwayʿi al-Kufi al-ʿAbid, Abu Amir; one of the hadith scholars, known as the Ascetic of Kufa and a pious man. See al-Ibar 1:290 (Beirut ed.).
(3) Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq ibn Dinar ibn Mishʿab, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Abdi—a mawla (freedman) of the Abdi tribe—al-Marwazi. His grandfather Shaqiq was a Basran, and the family then moved to Khurasan. A hafiz, prolific in knowledge and one of the leading imams of Khurasan. References: Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʼ 10:349; al-Ibar 1:368.
(4) Makki ibn Ibrahim ibn Bathir ibn Farqid al-Tamimi al-Hanzali al-Balkhi, Abu al-Sakan; imam and hafiz of the Khurasan Musnad; truthful. See Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʼ 9:549.
(5) References: Tarikh Khalifa p. 97; al-Jarh wa al-Tadil 4:4; Tarikh Baghdad 9:77; Nuzhat al-Albab p. 173; Muʿjam al-Udabāʼ 11:212; Wafayāt al-Ayan 2:378; Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʼ 9:494; Tabaqāt al-Qurrāʼ 1:305; Shadharat al-Dhahab 2:34.
(6) In Tarikh Baghdad (9:77) and Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʼ (9:495): “thirty years ago”; in Muʿjam al-Udabāʼ (11:216): “twenty years ago”; in Wafayāt al-Ayan (2:379): “fifty years ago.”
(7) Wafayāt al-Ayan 2:379.
(8) Later in the text: as for Abu Sulayman, his biography has already been provided.