Time turned against me, unaware that I am the more honored one and that the happenings of the age are trifling.
And Time went on showing me the extent of its hostility (1), while I spent the night teaching it what real patience is.

Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir (2) ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad, Abū al-Faḍl al-Maqdisī (3), the ḥāfiẓ:
He was born in 448 AH, and his first audition of hadith was in 460. He travelled widely in search of ḥadith, heard a vast amount, and acquired sound expertise in the craft (4).
He authored several useful books; nonetheless, he also wrote a treatise permitting samāʿ (musical audition) and defending taṣawwuf (Sufism), in which he cited extremely spurious hadiths (5) and introduced authentic ones where they did not belong (6).
More than one leading imam commended his prodigious memory.
Ibn al-Jawzī (7) mentioned that very work, which he styled “Ṣifat al-Taṣawwuf,” and said, “Whoever sees it will laugh at it.” He added, “He was of the Dāwūdī school; so whoever praises him does so (8) for his memorization of ḥadith, otherwise the grounds for condemning him (9) are stronger.”
He also said: “Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī referred to him and defended him with no proof, after stating, ‘I asked our shaykh Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭulḥī (10) about him; he spoke ill of him (11) and held a poor opinion of him (12).’”
He further said: “We heard Abū al-Faḍl ibn Nāṣir (13) say, ‘Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir is not to be relied upon as evidence; he composed a treatise allowing…’”