In this same year, the eminent Fakhr Muhammad ibn Abi ʿAli al-Nuqani al-Shafiʿi passed away while returning from the Hajj—may Allah have mercy on him.
Likewise, the poet Abu al-Ghanaʾim Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Muʿallim al-Harthi (1) died. Hurth (2) is one of the villages of Wasit. He was ninety-one years old, an articulate, masterful poet. Ibn al-Jawzi would quote some of the subtleties of his verse [and his esteemed new compositions] (3) during his gatherings, and Ibn al-Saʿi has preserved a fine selection (4) of his elegant, pleasing poetry.
[ʿAli ibn Saʿid ibn al-Hasan al-Baghdadi] (5):
In this same year the jurist Abu al-Hasan ʿAli ibn Saʿid ibn al-Hasan al-Baghdadi, known as Ibn al-ʿArif and nicknamed “al-Bayʿ al-Fasid” (“the Invalid Sale”), died. He had first been a Hanbali, then took up Shafiʿi jurisprudence under Abu al-Qasim ibn Faḍlan (6), and it was that teacher who gave him the nickname because of his incessant return to that particular question debated between the Shafiʿis and Hanafis. It is said that after all of this he ultimately adopted the doctrine of the Imamiyyah; Allah (7) knows best.
[Shaykh Abu Shujaʿ (8) Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Shuʿayb (9) ibn al-Dahhan, the expert in faraʾid (inheritance law) and arithmetic] (10):
Additional note on the collation. The statement in the appendix of Dhayl al-Rawdhatayn that he was born in 510 AH evidently omits the word “six” in the printed text. Jamāl al-Dīn Ibn al-Sābūnī gives his biography in his Takmila (pp. 351–352) and wrongly asserts that he studied at the Nizāmiyya. Ibn al-Fūṭī also includes his biography in al-Mulqabīn bi-Fakhr al-Dīn (Talakhīs Majma‘ al-Adab 4:2389), having taken it from Qāḍī Taj al-Dīn al-Takrītī’s Tarīkh. Al-Dhahabī records it as well in several works, notably Tarīkh al-Islām (12:988–989) and Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (21:248). For additional sources, see our commentary on Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (Bashar).
(1) His biography appears in Mu‘jam al-Buldan (s.v. al-Hurth) and in Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 9:327; al-Mukhtaṣar al-Muḥtāj 95; Mirʾāt al-Zamān 8:451; Dhayl al-Rawdhatayn, p. 9; Wafayāt al-A‘yān 5:5–9; al-ʿIbar 4:279; al-Wāfī bil-Wafayāt 4:165; and Mirʾāt al-Jinān 3:474–475.
(2) In Mu‘jam al-Buldan: al-Hurth is a village on the Jāfar River in the Wasit district.
(3) This reading relies solely on manuscript B.
(4) In manuscript B: a well-crafted excerpt from his finest poetry.
(5) He is Yaḥyā ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Faḍl ibn Baraka ibn Faḍlān; his biography will appear under the year 595 AH in this volume.
(6) His biography is in Ibn al-Dubaythī’s Tarīkh (folio 141 of the Cambridge codex) and Tarīkh al-Islām 12:981 (Bashar).
(7) In manuscript A: “wa-Allāh.”
(8) In manuscript A it reads “Abū Isḥāq” (erroneously).
(9) In the printed edition (T) it appears as “Mughīth” in error; all other sources confirm our reading (Bashar).
(10) His biography is found in Ibn al-Dubaythī’s Tarīkh 2:134–135; Inbāh al-Ruwāt 3:93; Takmila al-Mundhirī 1:214; Dhayl al-Rawdhatayn, p. 9; Wafayāt al-A‘yān 5:12–13; Talakhīs Majma‘ al-Adab 4:2386; Tarīkh al-Islām 12:918–919; al-ʿIbar 4:234–235; al-Wāfī bil-Wafayāt 4:164–165; Bughya al-Waʿā’in 1:180–181; Shadharāt al-Dhahab 4:304; and others (Bashar).