and ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Madāʾinī, the historian (1), one of the foremost authorities in this field during his day;
and ʿAmr ibn Marzūq, a teacher of al-Bukhārī (2)—it is related that this man married a thousand women;
and Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām al-Baghdādī (3), an imam in Arabic philology, jurisprudence, ḥadīth, Qur’anic recitations, historical reports, and the chronicle of Arab battles. He authored celebrated works that circulated widely among the scholars. It is even said that Imām Aḥmad copied his book on uncommon terms in ḥadīth, al-Gharīb, with his own hand; when ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir read it, he fixed for Abū ʿUbayd a monthly stipend of five hundred dirhams and ordered that it continue for his descendants after him (4).
Ibn Khallikān reports that Ibn Ṭāhir (5) admired the work and remarked, “A mind that has impelled (6) its owner to compile such a book ought never to be forced to seek his livelihood,” whereupon he granted him a monthly allowance of ten thousand dirhams (7).
Muḥammad ibn Wahb al-Masʿarī said, “I heard Abū ʿUbayd say, ‘I spent forty years composing this book’” (8).
Hilāl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ al-Raqī declared: “Allah has bestowed His favor upon the Muslims through these four: through al-Shāfiʿī, who derived jurisprudence from ḥadīth; through Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who stood firm during the ordeal; through Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who purged falsehood from ḥadīth; and through Abū ʿUbayd, who clarified the obscure vocabulary of ḥadīth. Were it not for them, people would have plunged headlong into error” (9).
(1) Abu al-Ḥasan, a resident of Baghdad and author of the work al-Tasanīf, was remarkable for his mastery of al-siyār (biographies), al-maghāzī (military campaigns), al-ansāb (genealogies), and the Arabs’ chronologies. He was considered reliable in transmission, possessing a strong isnād. He died in the house of Isḥāq al-Mawsilī, to whom he was attached. His writings are catalogued by Ibn al-Nadīm in al-Fihrist (pp. 113–117) and by Yāqūt in Mu‘jam al-Udabāʼ, vol. 1, pp. 129–139; see also Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalāʼ, vol. 10, p. 400, and al-‘Alām, vol. 4, p. 323.
(2) Abū ‘Uthmān al-Bāhilī of Basra, author of a Musnad for Basra, was deemed trustworthy though with some reservations. Al-Bukhārī transmitted from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ, pairing him with another narrator. See Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalāʼ, vol. 10, p. 417; Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 2, p. 78.
(3) See Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, vol. 7, p. 355; Ibn Qutaybah, al-Ma‘ārif, p. 549; Ibn al-Nadīm, al-Fihrist, p. 78; al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 12, p. 403; Yāqūt, Mu‘jam al-Udabāʼ, vol. 16, p. 254; Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-A‘yān, vol. 4, p. 60; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalāʼ, vol. 10, p. 490; Ma‘rifat al-Qurrāʼ, vol. 1, p. 141; Bughiyyat al-Wu‘ātā’, vol. 2, p. 253; Shuḍarāt adh-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 54; and others.
(4) Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 12, p. 406; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalāʼ, vol. 10, p. 495.
(5) In manuscript A: “Ibn Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn.”
(6) In manuscripts A and B the reading is ta‘iba, while the variant found in manuscripts Ẓ and Ṭ is also retained. In Mu‘jam al-Udabāʼ it appears as “inna ‘aqlan ba‘atha ṣāḥibahu.”
(7) Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-A‘yān, vol. 4, p. 61; Yāqūt, Mu‘jam al-Udabāʼ, vol. 16, p. 255.
(8) Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-A‘yān, vol. 4, p. 61.
(9) al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 12, p. 410; Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-A‘yān, vol. 4, p. 61; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalāʼ, vol. 10, p. 499.