from the province of Ṭabaristān, one of the foremost Shāfiʿī authorities. He was born in 415 AH, journeyed through many lands until he reached Transoxiana, amassed a vast store of knowledge, heard a great number of ḥadiths, and composed several works on the school.
Among them is al-Baḥr, dealing with the subsidiary rulings; it is a comprehensive tome that records rare opinions and the like. Hence the proverb, “Speak about the sea and there is no blame” (1).
He used to say, “If the books of al-Shāfiʿī were to be burnt, I could dictate them from memory.” He was unjustly slain on a Friday (2), the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, in the congregational mosque of Āmul, Ṭabaristān.
Ibn Khallikān (3) relates: He studied jurisprudence under Nāṣir al-Marwazī and took notes from him. Al-Rūyānī enjoyed immense prestige and veneration in those regions, and Niẓām al-Mulk held him in great esteem. He authored works in both uṣūl al-fiqh and furūʿ, among them: Baḥr al-Madhhab, Manāṣīṣ (4) al-Imām al-Shāfiʿī, al-Kāfī, and Ḥilyat al-Muʾmin (5); he also wrote on juristic disputation. May Allah Most High have mercy on him.

Yaḥyā ibn ʿAlī (6) ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Bisṭām al-Shaybānī al-Tabrīzī, Abū Zakariyyā, was one of the eminent scholars of language and grammar (7). He studied under Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī and others, and many students graduated at his hands, among them Abū Manṣūr ibn al-Jawālīqī.
Ibn Nāṣir said: “He was trustworthy in transmission and produced many compilations.” Ibn Khayrūn, however, remarked: “His conduct was not commendable.” He passed away in Jumādā al-Ākhirah and was buried beside Shaykh Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī (8) at Bāb Abriz (9). Allah knows best.