—the Egyptian khuṭbah that had been proclaimed there on their behalf for a full hundred years—thus came to an end in this very year; to Allah belong all praise and grace.
Among the notable deaths recorded this year
The ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr, al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (1) Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad ibn Mahdī.
He was one of the most celebrated masters of ḥadīth, the author of “The History of Baghdad” and many other useful works—about sixty titles; some say one hundred, and Allah knows best.
He was born in 391 AH, though it is also said 392 AH (2). His first audition of ḥadīth was in 403 AH, and he grew up in Baghdad. He studied jurisprudence under the judge Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī (3) and other pupils of Shaykh Abū Ḥāmid al-Isfarāyīnī. He amassed an immense body of ḥadīth and journeyed to Basra, Nishapur, Isfahān, Hamadhān, Syria, and the Ḥijāz. He was called al-Khaṭīb because he used to deliver the Friday sermon in Darzijān (4).
In Mecca he studied under the judge Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn Salamah al-Qudāʿī, and he recited Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī to Karīmah bint Aḥmad in five days. Returning to Baghdad, he gained the favour of the vizier Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Maslama.
When the Jews of Khaybar claimed to possess a prophetic document exempting them from the jizyah, Ibn al-Maslama showed the text to al-Khaṭīb, who said, “This is a forgery.” Asked for his proof, he replied, “Because it bears the attestation of Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who had not yet embraced Islam at the time of Khaybar—the expedition took place in the seventh year after the Hijrah—whereas Muʿāwiyah accepted Islam on the day of the Conquest. It also bears the attestation of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, who died in the year of the Trench, five AH.” The people were impressed by this reasoning, though al-Khaṭīb had been anticipated in this criticism—Muḥammad ibn Jarīr had already advanced it, as I have mentioned in a separate monograph.
When the Basāsīrī revolt erupted in Baghdad in 450 AH, he left for Syria, took up residence in the eastern minaret of the congregational mosque of Damascus, and taught prophetic ḥadīth to the people. His voice was strong and resonant; it could be heard in every corner of the mosque.