Shaykh Abū al-Bayān Nabāʾ ibn Muḥammad, better known as Ibn al-Ḥawrānī (1)—a jurist, ascetic, devout worshipper, and humble servant of God (2), may Allah sanctify his soul (3)—
recited the Quran and studied the primer “al-Tanbīh” in the Shāfiʿī school. He had an excellent command of the Arabic language, read extensively, and many memorable sayings are attributed to him. I have seen a volume in his own handwriting that contains the poems (4) his companions and followers used to chant in a peculiar dialect. From his youth until his death he remained upon a righteous way. King Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd (5) visited him in his ribāṭ (6) inside Darb al-Ḥajar and endowed him with a gift. He died on Tuesday, the third of Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this year (7), and was buried in the Bāb al-Ṣaghīr cemetery; it was a day of great public attendance. I have mentioned him in “Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah”—may Allah have mercy on him.
ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Ghāfir (8) ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Fārisī (9), the ḥāfiẓ, master of hadith (10):
He studied jurisprudence with Imām al-Ḥaramayn, heard a vast number of traditions from his maternal grandfather Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī, and travelled through many lands (11).
= He says takbīr ninety times… as if he were praying upon Ḥamza.
In al-Rawdatayn: “He says takbīr seventy times… as if he had prayed upon Ḥamza.”
In al-Fawāt: “He says takbīr seventy times… as though he had prayed upon Ḥamza.”
(1) His biography appears in: Tārīkh Ibn al-Qalanisī (p. 512); al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh (vol. 9, p. 53); al-Rawdatayn (vol. 2, p. 13); Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (vol. 20, p. 326); al-ʿIbar (vol. 4, p. 144); and Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 11, p. 37).
(2) In the printed edition: al-Fāḍil.
(3) Not in the printed edition.
(4) Manuscripts read: allattī lahu (“which is his”).
(5) Only in the printed edition.
(6) Manuscripts read: ribāṭ (“convent”).
(7) Manuscripts read: thālith (“third”); in Tārīkh al-Islām: al-thulāthā’ thānī (“Tuesday the second”).
(8) Both the biographical entry and the printed edition give ʿAbd al-Qādir; this is a scribal error.
(9) Manuscripts read al-Ghāzī; this too is a scribal error.
(10) His biography is also in: al-Tahbīr (vol. 1, pp. 507–509); Mirʾāt al-Zamān (vol. 1, pp. 227–228); Talkhīṣ Majmaʿ al-Ādāb fī Maʿjam al-Alqāb (vol. 4, q. 3, pp. 133–134); al-ʿIbar (vol. 4, p. 79); Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ (vol. 5, p. 127); Ṭabaqāt al-Subkī (vol. 4, p. 255); and Mirʾāt al-Jinān (vol. 3, p. 256). Bashshār comments that, although the author lists him under that year, reliable sources record his death in 529 AH and his birth in 451 AH; the date 551 AH appears to be a confusion later taken as his death year. God knows best.
(11) In the biographical entry: bilād (“lands”).