He also acknowledges that al-Nāsir’s treatment in al-Jarḥ wa’l-Taʿdīl at times reflects his own partiality and severity. Then you say: “If someone asserts that this constitutes an error concerning narrators, it proves he is neither a muhaddith nor familiar with the distinction between jarḥ (criticism) and ghība (slander). The man merely reported what was said, without engaging in either criticism or slander, until you attributed to him something he never uttered. Scholars recognize that in hadith scholarship the ḥāfiẓ (one who has memorized a vast corpus of hadith) is far more learned than you in hadith, its isnāds, its narrators, and its history—you are not equals. He devoted his life to travel and the discipline, heard from four thousand sheikhs, traversed al-Shām, al-Ḥijāz, Iraq, the mountains, Khurāsān, and lands beyond the Oxus, heard in over a hundred cities, and authored numerous works. In contrast, you have heard only in Baghdad and transmitted from no more than eighty-four individuals. Thus, by our technical terminology you should not be called a ḥāfiẓ, only that you possess a strong memory, extensive learning, multiple specializations, and great erudition. May Allah forgive us and you. Then you accuse him of partisanship toward the Ḥanafīs and bad intent—by Allah, I have never seen this in Abū Saʿd; rather, by Allah his creed regarding the sunnah is superior to yours. One day you are Ashʿarī, another day Ḥanbalī, and your writings bear witness to this. We have never seen the Ḥanābilah accept your creed, nor the Shāfiʿīs. Furthermore, we have seen you extract several ḥadīths under the heading of “fabrications,” then elsewhere invoke and embellish them—so spare us your contentions!” (Tārīkh al-Islām 11:992–993). Bashshār commented: “Al-Dhahabī’s remarks here are those of an impartial scholar who has treated both parties fairly.” (1) In the printed edition: “died.” (2) In the printed edition: “minhā” (“from it”). (3) The name appears as Mujallī ibn Jumayyʿ in Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, Muḥallā in Mirʾāt al-Zamān; here it follows al-ʿIbar. (4) His biography is given in Wafayāt al-Aʿyān (vol. 4:154–158), al-ʿIbar (vol. 4:141), Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 11:998), and Mirʾāt al-Jinān (vol. 3:297). (5) The phrase offering blessing (tarḥam) is not found in the printed edition. (6) Not in the printed edition; it appears at the beginning of the sentence in Manuscript B. (7) Not in the printed edition. (8) In the printed edition: “ash-shamsiyya,” which is a corruption. (9) In the autograph manuscript: “wa-kallafahu” (“and assigned him”).