Al-Thaʿālibī said, “He was called Niftawayh solely because of his homeliness and his dark complexion.” (1)

Ibn Khālawayh remarked, “We know of no one else whose given name is Ibrāhīm and whose kunya is Abū ʿAbd Allāh but him.”

ʿUbayd Allāh (2) ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, son of the caliph al-Muhtadī bi-Allāh (3), Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Hāshimī al-ʿAbbāsī, transmitted hadith from Siyyār ibn Naṣr al-Ḥalabī and others; al-Dāraqutnī and other scholars transmitted from him in turn. He was trustworthy, virtuous, and a Shāfiʿī jurist.

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAdī (4), Abū Nuʿaym al-Istarābādhī, likewise a Shāfiʿī traditionist and jurist, died at the age of eighty-three.

ʿAlī ibn al-Faḍl ibn Ṭāhir (5) ibn Naṣram ibn Muḥammad, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Balkhī, wandered far and wide in pursuit of hadith. He was reliable and possessed an excellent memory; he heard from Abū Ḥātim (6) al-Rāzī and others, and al-Dāraqutnī and others narrated from him.

Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Asad (7), Abū Bakr the ḥāfiẓ, known as Ibn al-Bustanban, heard from al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār and others; al-Dāraqutnī and others also transmitted from him. He lived beyond eighty years of age.

[Then the year 324 AH began.]

In that year the troops arrived, surrounded the caliphal palace, and said, “Let the Caliph al-Rāḍī himself come out and lead the people in prayer.” So he came out, led them in prayer, and addressed them.

The palace guards seized the vizier Abū ʿAlī ibn Muqlah and asked the caliph to appoint someone else in his place. The caliph left the choice to them, so they selected ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā, but he declined and recommended his brother ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĪsā, who was accordingly appointed vizier. The house of Abū ʿAlī ibn Muqlah was set ablaze, he himself was handed over to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĪsā, was beaten severely, and a written bond for one million dinars was taken from him.