he studied under Muḥammad ibn Samāʿa.

• Muḥammad ibn Samāʿa, the instructor of Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī. Blind from birth, he heard hadith from ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd and others. He later travelled to Egypt, where he related hadith from memory, and he died there in Muḥarram of this year. Ibn Yūnus declared him trustworthy in his History of Egypt.

• Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn al-Azhar (1) — Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Birtī (2) — qāḍī of Wāsiṭ and compiler of a Musnad. He transmitted hadith from Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm, Abū Salama al-Tabūdhakī, Abū Nuʿaym, Abū al-Walīd, and many others, and was considered sound and reliable. In jurisprudence he studied with Abū Sulaymān al-Jūzajānī, a pupil of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. He served as judge for the eastern district of Baghdad during the reign of al-Muʿtazz (3). Under al-Muwaffaq he and Ismāʿīl the judge were ordered to surrender the orphan funds in their custody. Ismāʿīl complied immediately, whereas Abū al-ʿAbbās requested a delay; he then hastened to everyone whom he deemed of age and restored each person’s property. When later called to account he said, “I no longer have any of it; I have returned it to its owners.” He was therefore removed from office, retired to his home, and devoted himself to worship until his death in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of this year.
Someone dreamt of him entering upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him; the Prophet rose to greet him, shook his hand, kissed him between the eyes, and said, “Welcome to one who acts upon my sunnah and follows my traces.”

In this same year there also died:

• Jaʿfar ibn al-Muʿtamad, who used to converse nightly (4) with al-Muʿtaḍid;

• Rāshid, the client of al-Muwaffaq, who died in the city of Dīnawar and was carried to Baghdad (5);

• and ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī (6), author of “The Refutation of Bishr al-Marīsī” concerning the innovative interpretations he advanced on behalf of the Jahmiyyah doctrine; we have mentioned him in Tabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah.