Mislākh (1) al-Thawrī; Khalifah ibn Khayyat, one of the foremost authorities on history (2); Suwayd ibn Saʿid al-Hadathānī (3); Suwayd ibn Naṣr (4); ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Saʿid—better known as Sahnūn—one of the celebrated Mālikī jurists; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ghiyāth (5); Qutaybah ibn Saʿid, the shaykh of the six canonical compilers (6); and Abū al-ʿAmaythil (7), namely ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalid (8), the secretary and poet of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir. He was a scholar of the Arabic language and composed numerous works on it, several of which the judge Ibn Khallikān has quoted. Among his verses in praise of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir (9) are:
O you who would strive that your qualities
match those of ʿAbd Allāh—be silent and listen!
I shall indeed advise you concerning certain virtues—by Him
to whom the pilgrims journey; so listen, or else depart.
(1) i.e. in his form, guidance, and method. al-mslakh (mslakh): the hide. In the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾisha: “I have not seen a woman I preferred to be in her hide more than Sawdah; she wished my conduct to follow her guidance and way.” at-Tāj reads: slakh (flaying). al-Nihāya (2/389).
(2) Abū ʿAmr al-ʿUsfurī al-Baṣrī, known as Shabāb, author of al-Tārīkh and al-Ṭabaqāt, among other works. ʿUsfur (sing. ʿasfar): “thigh,” used as an Arab tribal epithet. He was a specialist in genealogy, biographies, and historical chronology, one of the “Eight” (al-Ṭumāniyya). Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (8/314); al-ʿIbar (1/432).
(3) Suwayd ibn Saʿīd ibn Sahl ibn Shahriyār, Abū Muḥammad al-Harawī al-Ḥadathanī, resident of Ḥadītha al-Furāt (al-Nūra), a small settlement under ʿĀna north of al-Anbār. A prolific ḥadīth transmitter noted for his extensive travel. Abū Ḥātim deemed him ṣadūq (truthful) but prone to tadlīs (omission of intermediaries). He lived to one hundred. Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalāʾ (11/410); al-ʿIbar (1/432).
(4) Abū al-Faḍl al-Marwazī, known as ash-Shāh, an imam and muḥaddith who narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak and Ibn ʿUyayna. Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalāʾ (11/408); al-ʿIbar (1/432).
(5) ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ghayāth al-Mirbadī al-Baṣrī, Abū Baḥr al-Ṣayrafī. Listed among the thiqāt (reliable transmitters) by Ibn Ḥibbān. Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb (6/438).
(6) In manuscript A: A’immat al-Sunnah (“Leaders of the Sunnah”); in the printed edition: A’immat wa al-Sunnah (“Leaders and the Sunnah”), as also in editions by Bā and Ẓāh. He is Qutayba ibn Saʿīd ibn Jamīl ibn Ṭarīf al-Thaqafī al-Balkhī al-Baghlānī, kunya Abū Rajāʾ. His name was Yaḥyā—according to some sources, ʿAlī—and Qutayba is his laqab. He studied under Mālik and al-Layth, and scholars journeyed to him from afar. He was the principal ḥadīth scholar of Khorasan and is regarded as reliable. Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalāʾ (11/13); al-ʿIbar (1/433).
(7) His biography appears in Wafayāt al-Aʿyān (3/89); Sumṭ al-Lāʾilī (308); and al-Aʿlām by al-Zarkalī (4/240).
(8) In the printed edition: “Khālid,” an obvious corruption.
(9) Wafayāt al-Aʿyān (3/89); Mirʾāt al-Janān (2/130).