along the highways. A brief account of his exploits and a fuller biography will be given later, if Allah wills. (1)

Among the notable figures who passed away in that same year were:

Abū Isḥāq al-Muzakkī (2): Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Nūḥ ibn ʿAbd Allāh, known as Abū Isḥāq al-Muzakkī, a ḥāfiẓ, an ascetic, and the leading authority of his age in Nīshāpūr on ḥadīth, its transmitters, and its subtle defects. He listened to a great many senior shaykhs, visited Imām Aḥmad and conferred with him, and his teaching circle inspired profound awe. It is said that his supplications were answered. He owned nothing but the house he lived in and a small shop that yielded seventeen dirhams a month, which he spent on himself and his family; he would accept nothing from anyone. Throughout the winter he lived on carrots cooked in vinegar. Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, the ḥāfiẓ of Nīshāpūr, remarked, “My eyes have never beheld anyone like him.”

Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Nūrī, one of the foremost Sufi masters (3): Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad—though some say Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, but the first is more reliable—better known as Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Nūrī and also called Ibn al-Baghawī. His origins were in Khurāsān. He narrated from Sarī al-Saqaṭī and himself became one of the greatest shaykhs of the path. Abū Aḥmad al-Mughāzlī said, “I have never seen anyone more devout in worship than Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Nūrī.” He was asked, “Not even al-Junayd?” He replied, “Not even al-Junayd.” Another authority stated (4): “He fasted for twenty years, and no one—neither his household nor others—ever realized it.” He died in a mosque, his face covered, and was not discovered until four days later.

Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad ibn Asad ibn Sāmān al-Sāmānī (5): one of the caliphs’ governors over Khurāsān. He was the one who slew ʿAmr ibn al-Layth al-Ṣaffār, the Kharijite rebel, and informed the Caliph al-Muʿtaḍid, who then appointed him over Khurāsān. Al-Muktafī later vested him with authority over Rayy, Transoxiana, and the Turkic territories, against whom he waged a severe campaign. He built ribāṭs (frontier hostels) along the highways, each capable of lodging a thousand cavalrymen, and endowed them with generous waqf revenues. Ṭāhir ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Layth presented him with magnificent gifts, including thirteen jewels, each weighing between seven and ten mithqāls, some red and some blue, whose value reached one hundred thousand dinars. Ismāʿīl forwarded them to the Caliph al-Muʿtaḍid and interceded for Ṭāhir, whereupon the caliph granted his request.