Abu al-Husayn (1) ibn Tabataba, the sharif (2), was an accomplished poet whose verse was widely admired.
The professor Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini (3)—Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Mihran—was a shaykh, imam, and celebrated authority, a pillar of the religion, a Shafi‘i jurist, and a theologian of the principles of faith. He produced many works in the two fundamental sciences; among them are Jamiʿ al-Hali (4) in five volumes and al-Taʿliqa al-Nafiʿa fi Usul al-Fiqh, among others. He had heard a large number of hadith from Abu Bakr al-Ismaʿili, Daʿlij, and others, and from him transmitted al-Bayhaqi, Shaykh Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari, and al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, who all spoke highly of him. His death occurred in Nishapur on the Day of ʿAshura of this year; afterward he was taken to his hometown and buried in his own mausoleum—may Allah have mercy on him.
Al-Quduri, author of the renowned handbook in the school of Abu Hanifa (5)—Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Hamdan, Abu al-Hasan al-Quduri, the Hanafi jurist and compiler of the memorized abridgment al-Musannaf al-Mukhtasar (6)—was a brilliant imam, devout scholar, and skilled debater. He was the one appointed to debate Shaykh Abu Hamid al-Isfarayini on behalf of the caliph, and al-Quduri would laud him, saying, “He is more learned and more penetrating than al-Shafiʿi.” He passed away on Sunday, the fifth of Rajab of this year, at the age of fifty-six, and was buried beside the Hanafi jurist Abu Bakr al-Khwarazmi.
(1) In some copies, the name appears as “al-Hasan.” Our reading is corroborated by the instance written in gold in al-Dhahabi’s Tarikh al-Islam (vol. 9, p. 304).
(2) al-Muntazam (vol. 8, p. 34).
(3) Wafayat al-A‘yan (vol. 1, p. 28); Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (vol. 17, p. 353); al-Wafi bi’l-Wafayat (vol. 6, p. 104); Tabaqat al-Subki (vol. 4, p. 256); Shudhurat al-Dhahab (vol. 3, p. 309).
(4) In the original, as well as in Wafayat al-A‘yan, the name is spelled with a plain ḥā’ (h), whereas in Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ it appears as al-Khalī, using khā’ (kh).
(5) Tariqh Baghdad (vol. 4, p. 377); al-Muntazam (vol. 8, p. 91); Wafayat al-A‘yan (vol. 1, p. 78); Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (vol. 17, p. 574); al-Wafi bi’l-Wafayat (vol. 7, p. 320); al-Jawahir al-Mudhiya (vol. 1, p. 347); al-Nujum al-Zahira (vol. 5, p. 24); Shudhurat al-Dhahab (vol. 3, p. 233).
Ibn Khallikan notes that his nisba, al-Quduri, is formed with qāf (damma), dāl unpointed, wāw sukun, and final rā unpointed, deriving from al-qudur (plural of qidr, “pot”). He finds no reason for this attribution, but Samhani records it similarly in his Kitab al-Ansab.
Bashshar observes that the author (may God have mercy on him) was evidently mistaken in dating his death to this year. Al-Khatib—who composed a work on him—records his death in 428 AH, as do al-Dhahabi and others, and the author himself lists him under the events of 427 AH, when he was overseeing expenditures at Qantara ‘Isa; his full biography then appears in the Wafayat under 428 AH.
(6) al-Mukhtasar fi Furu‘ al-Hanafiyya: one of the principal works of Hanafi jurisprudence, commonly known simply as al-Kitab. It has appeared in several editions; Fuat Sezgin’s Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums (vol. 2, p. 109) lists its commentaries and the locations of extant manuscripts.