– Ibn Qutaybah al-Dīnawarī (1): ʿAbd Allah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah al-Dīnawarī, the town’s qāḍī, a grammarian and linguist, and the author of many splendid and useful works that contain abundant beneficial knowledge. He pursued his studies in Baghdad, where he heard ḥadith from Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh and his peers, and learned the Arabic language from Abū Ḥātim al-Sijistānī and others. He wrote, compiled, and authored a great number of renowned books, among them: Kitāb al-Maʿārif; Adab al-Kātib—which was later annotated by Abū Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid al-Baṭalyawsī; Mushkil al-Qurʾān wa-l-Ḥadīth; Gharīb al-Qurʾān wa-l-Ḥadīth; ʿUyūn al-Akhbār; Iṣlāḥ al-Ghalat; Kitāb al-Khayl; Kitāb al-Anwār; Kitāb al-Masāʾil wa-l-Jawābāt; and Kitāb al-Maysir wa-l-Qidāḥ, in addition to other works.
He died in this very year, though some say in the following year (2). He was born in 213 AH and did not reach sixty years of age, may Allah have mercy on him. His son Aḥmad transmitted all of his father’s writings. That same Aḥmad held the judgeship of Egypt in 321 AH and died there a year later, may Allah have mercy on him.
– Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Jaʿfar al-Ṣāghānī (3).
– Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Wārah (4).
– Muṣʿab ibn Aḥmad ibn Muṣʿab, Abū Aḥmad the Sufi (5), who was a contemporary of al-Junayd.
In this year as well, the Byzantine king—“the son of the Ṣaqlabiyyah”—died; may Allah curse him.
(1) Al-Zabidi, Ṭabaqāt al-Naḥwiyyīn wa-l-Lughawiyyīn, p. 116; al-Fihrist, “Second Treatise,” Third Section; al-Jawzī, Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 10, p. 170; al-Dhahabī, al-Muntaẓam, vol. 5, p. 102; Inbāh al-Ruwāt, vol. 2, p. 143; Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-A‘yān, vol. 3, p. 42; Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ, vol. 2, p. 633; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, vol. 13, p. 296; al-Nujūm al-Zāhirah, vol. 3, p. 75; Bughyat al-Wu‘āt, vol. 2, p. 63; Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 169.
(2) Al-Dhahabī dates this entry in Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ to 276 AH; the author will also record his biography under that year.
(3) In manuscripts A and the printed edition the name appears as aṣ-Ṣaffār, while in manuscripts B and Ẓā it appears as al-Muthabbāt. He is Abu Bakr, a ḥāfiẓ with refined recitation, regarded as a proof (ḥujjah) and deemed reliable (thiqah). He was one of the most exacting and proficient transmitters, steadfast in religion, famed for his adherence to the Sunnah, and extensive in narration. See Tārīkh Baghdād (vol. 1, p. 240) and Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 12, p. 592).
(4) Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh, known as Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Wārah al-Rāzī, was one of the luminaries. He became proverbial for his memorization, albeit with occasional errors and digressions. Al-Nasā’ī describes him as reliable and a transmitter of ḥadīth. (Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, vol. 13, p. 28; al-ʿIbar, vol. 2, p. 46.)
(5) He is Abū Aḥmad al-Qalandasī al-Baghdādī, the leading shaykh of the Sufis in Baghdad, preeminent among all its aspirants thanks to his generosity, moral excellence, observance of ascetic disciplines, and kind heart. (Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 13, p. 114; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, vol. 13, p. 170.)