Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (1) ibn Yaʿqūb (2) ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Miqsam—Abū Bakr ibn Miqsam, the perfumer and eminent Qur’ān-reciter.
He was born in 265 AH, travelled widely in pursuit of knowledge, and al-Dāraqutnī and others transmitted from him. He was among the most knowledgeable people concerning the Qur’ānic readings. He also wrote a grammatical treatise in the Kufan style, which he entitled Kitāb al-Anwār (The Book of Lights).
Ibn al-Jawzī said, “I have never seen anyone like him. He wrote other works as well, yet people criticised him because he alone adopted readings not accepted by the general body of scholars. He maintained that any wording which does not contradict the rasm (consonantal outline) of the muṣḥaf and is sound in both meaning and pronunciation may legitimately be recited. For example, he cited the verse, ‘So when they had despaired of him, they withdrew to confer privately’ (Yūsuf 12:80), explaining that najiyyā means ‘they whispered together.’ He added, ‘If it were recited as nujabāʾ, derived from najābah (nobility), it would still be admissible.’ Complaints were lodged against him, and a document was circulated claiming that he had retracted such views; nevertheless—adds Ibn al-Jawzī (3)—he persisted in them until his death.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbdawayh (4) ibn Mūsā—Abū Bakr, the Shāfiʿī jurist.
He was born at Jabbul (5) in 260 AH, collected a vast amount of ḥadīth, and later settled in Baghdad. He was reliable, precise, and prolific in narration; al-Dāraqutnī and other ḥuffāẓ reported from him. When the Daylamids forbade public mention of the Companions’ merits, he would nevertheless proclaim those virtues aloud in the congregational mosque of Madīnat al-Manṣūr—and likewise in his own mosque at Bāb al-Shām—in open defiance of them. He passed away this year at the age of ninety-four—may Allah have mercy on him.
Then the year 355 AH began.
On the tenth of Muḥarram the Rāfiḍites in Baghdad perpetrated their heinous innovation and brazen tumult.
That same year the Hajarī Qarmaṭians captured ʿUmān.
In this year as well, the Byzantines advanced against Āmid, besieging it but failing to take it. They killed three hundred of its inhabitants and captured four hundred. They then marched on Nisibis, where Sayf al-Dawlah was stationed. He was about to flee with the Arab forces, but when the Byzantines’ arrival was delayed he stood his ground—though they had nearly uprooted his foundations.