in Nishapur, and later settled in Samarqand. He was one of the most learned people concerning the juristic disagreements of the Companions, the Followers, and the succeeding imams of Islam. He travelled through many lands, learned from a large number of shaykhs, composed valuable and comprehensive books, and was exemplary in his prayer, marked by deep humility. Indeed, he authored a major work on the subject of prayer.
Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (1) reports from him that he said: “I left Egypt intending to perform the ḥajj to Mecca. I sailed by sea, taking with me a slave-girl of mine. The ship sank, and two thousand fascicles of my books were lost in the water, while the girl and I survived. We sought refuge on an island, looked for water there but found none. I laid my head on the girl’s thigh and despaired of life. While I was in that state, a man approached carrying a jug and said, ‘Here!’ I took it, drank from it, and gave the girl to drink. Then he went away; I did not know whence he had come nor where he went.” (2)
He was among the most generous and open-handed of men. Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad (3) used to send him four thousand each year; [his brother Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad sent him four thousand, and the people of Samarqand sent him another four thousand] (4), and he spent all of it. Someone said to him, “If only you would save some of it for an emergency!” He replied, “Glory be to Allah! I once stayed in Egypt for a time, spending only twenty dirhams a year. Do you think that if none of this reached me I would be unable to find twenty dirhams in a whole year?!” (5)
Whenever Muḥammad ibn Naṣr al-Marwazī entered upon Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad al-Sāmānī, the latter would stand for him and honor him. One day his brother Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad reproached him: “You stand for a man in the assembly of your rulership while you are the king of Khurasan?” Ismāʿīl said, “That night I went to bed with a troubled (6) heart (7) and saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a dream. He said, ‘O Ismāʿīl! Your kingdom and that of your sons has been made firm because of your honoring Muḥammad ibn Naṣr, while your brother’s dominion has vanished because of his belittling of Muḥammad ibn Naṣr.’ (8)”
It is related that in Egypt Muḥammad ibn Naṣr, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, and Muḥammad ibn al-Mundhir once met. They sat together in a house writing hadith, but that day they had nothing to eat. They therefore drew lots among themselves to decide who should go out and obtain something to eat to relieve their necessity. The lot (9) fell upon one of them, so he rose