and ʿIsa ibn Ḥammād (1); Muhammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī (2); Muhammad ibn Zunbur (3); Muhammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, Abū Kurayb (4); Muhammad ibn Yazīd, Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī (5); and Abū Ḥātim al-Sijistānī (6)—whose full name was Sahl ibn Muhammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Yazīd al-Jushamī, better known as Abū Ḥātim, the grammarian and lexicographer, and the author of numerous works (7).
He excelled in Arabic philology, studying under Abū ʿUbaydah and al-Aṣmaʿī, and transmitting copiously from Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī. Al-Mubarrad, Ibn Durayd, and many others, in turn, learned from him. He was a devout man, generous in charity and constant in recitation: every day he would donate one dinar, and each week he completed a full reading of the Quran. He also composed a large body of poetry; among (8) it is the following line:
“They unveiled his fair face … and then reproached the one who was enthralled.”
(1) ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammad ibn Muslim al-Tujībī al-Miṣrī, Abū Mūsā—his nickname was Zughba, the same as his father’s. He is thiqah (trustworthy) and was the last of the reliable transmitters from al-Layth ibn Saʿd. Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (11:506); Taqrīb al-Taḥdhīb (2:97).
(2) Abū ʿAbd Allāh: a grand ḥāfiẓ and one of the principal repositories of knowledge. Despite serving as imam, he denied the authenticity of hadith. Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (11:503).
(3) Muḥammad ibn Zanbūr ibn Abī al-Azhar—his given name Zanbūr Jaʿfar, Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Makkī. He is ṣaduq (truthful) but prone to occasional errors. Taqrīb al-Taḥdhīb (2:161).
(4) Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Kurayb al-Hamdānī, Abū Kurayb al-Kūfī. He is al-ḥāfiẓ and Shaykh al-muḥaddithīn, and considered ṣaduq. Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (11:394).
(5) The scholar, jurist (faqīh), reciter (muqriʾ), and qāḍī of Baghdad. He studied the qirāʾāt under several masters and authored a work on the readings containing many anomalies; he also wrote Gharāʾib fī al-Ḥadīth. Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (12:153); Ghayat al-Nihāya (2:280).
(6) al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl (4:204); Akhbār al-Naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn (p. 93); Ṭabaqāt al-Naḥwiyyīn wa al-Lughawiyyīn (p. 94); Nuzhat al-Albāʾ (p. 189); Maʿjam al-Udabāʾ (11:263); Wafayāt al-Aʿyān (2:430); Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (12:268); Inbāh al-Ruwāt (2:58); Ghayat al-Nihāya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Qurrāʾ (1:320).
(7) al-Qifṭī, in Inbāh al-Ruwāt (2:62), records that he authored approximately thirty-three works.
(8) In edition A it reads “fa-min qawlihi,” whereas edition B preserves “ma jāʾa fī.” The couplet appears in Wafayāt al-Aʿyān (2:431) and al-Suyūṭī’s Bughya al-Wuʿāʾ (1:607), where it is attributed to al-Mubarrid, who as a handsome youth attended his study circle and was a devoted student of his recitation.