Abu al-Hasan al-Ashʿari (1). Ibn al-Jawzi records in al-Muntazam that al-Ashʿari died in this very year. He spoke at length about him and ran him down, as is the well-known habit of the Hanbalis, who have criticized the Ashʿaris both past and present. He states that al-Ashʿari was born in 260 AH, died in 331 AH, remained in the company of al-Jubbāʾi for forty years before retracting his views, and that he passed away in Baghdad and was buried at Mashraʿat al-Rawāyā (2).

Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yaʿqub ibn Shaybaba (3) ibn al-Salt, the client of the Sadus tribe, Abu Bakr. He heard hadith from his grandfather, from ʿAbbās al-Dūrī, and from others, and Abu ʿUmar (4) ibn Mahdi transmitted from him. He was deemed reliable.

Al-Khatib relates that when this Muhammad was born the astrologers cast his horoscope and calculated his life span, saying he would live such-and-such a number of years (5). His father therefore set aside for him a ḥubb (large earthenware jar) (6) [into which he would throw] (7) one dinar every day. He set aside a second jar for the same purpose, and then a third, so that the daily sum reached three dinars. Yet all of this benefited him nothing; he became so poor that he begged from people, attended the hadith sessions without an izār (lower garment), and the people present would give him something to relieve his need (8). Truly blessed is the one whom Allah grants felicity.

Muhammad ibn Makhlad ibn Hafs (9): Abu ʿUmar (10) al-Dūrī (11), the perfume-seller. He resided in al-Dūr, a quarter on the outskirts of Baghdad.