He studied jurisprudence under Shaykh Abu Ḥamid al-Isfarāyīnī and became so proficient that Shaykh Abu Ḥamid used to say, “He has a better command of fiqh than I.” Among his well-known works are al-Lubāb al-Awsat and al-Muqniʿ; he also wrote al-Khilāf and produced an extensive commentary on Shaykh Abu Ḥamid’s treatise.
Ibn Khallikān states: “He was born in 368 AH and died on Wednesday, with nine days remaining of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir this year, his hair already grey. May Allah Most High have mercy on him.”
Sulṭān al-Dawla (1) ibn Bahāʾ al-Dawla died in Shiraz at the age of thirty-two years and five months.
ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ḥusayn (2), Abū al-Qāsim al-Khaffāf, known as Ibn al-Naqīb, was one of the foremost champions of the Sunnah. When he heard of the death of Ibn al-Muʿallim, the Shiʿi jurist, he prostrated to Allah in gratitude. He then sat to receive congratulations and said, “I care not when I die, now that I have witnessed the death of Ibn al-Muʿallim.” For many years he performed the dawn prayer with the same ablution he had made for the night prayer.
Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī relates: “I asked him about his birth and he replied, ‘In 305 AH. I still remember the caliphs al-Muqtadir, al-Qāhir, al-Rāḍī, al-Muttaqī, al-Mustakfī, al-Muṭīʿ, al-Ṭāʾiʿ, al-Qādir, and al-Ghālib billāh, for whom the oath of succession was proclaimed.’ He passed away at the end of Shaʿbān this year, at the age of one hundred and ten. May Allah have mercy on him.”
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn Taʿwīdh (3), Abū Ḥafs al-Dallāl, said: “I heard al-Shiblī recite:
‘There once was a thing men called delight—
Long ago we heard of it; what became of it?
My friends, if the soul’s distress should last
Even a little longer in the state we see, it would kill.
A man pins (4) his hopes on a world he thinks will abide,
But the hopeful one died before his hope could survive.’
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (5), Abū al-Ḥasan al-Aqsāsī al-ʿAlawī, served as al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā’s deputy in command of the ḥajj. He led the pilgrims on several occasions, was eloquent, composed fine poetry, and descended from Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn.