their families from Bayt al-Maqdis to the Mosque of Abu Ṣāliḥ (1) at first; then they moved to the hillside, and the quarter (2) became identified with them and was therefore called al-Ṣāliḥiyya. They took up residence in the Monastery, and the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī memorised the Quran and attended hadith gatherings. He and al-Muwaffaq then travelled to Baghdad in 560 AH, where Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir lodged them in his madrasa—[he never let anyone else stay with him] (3)—yet (4) he discerned in the two of them intelligence, goodness (5) and piety. He honoured them and had them hear hadith, and he died fifty nights after their arrival (6) (7). ʿAbd al-Ghanī was inclined toward hadith and biographical criticism, whereas al-Muwaffaq gravitated toward jurisprudence. They studied under Shaykh Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī (8) and Shaykh Abū al-Fath Ibn al-Mannī (9). After four years they returned to Damascus; ʿAbd al-Ghanī then journeyed to Egypt and Alexandria, came back to Damascus, proceeded to al-Jazīra and Baghdad, and thereafter (10) set out for Isfahan, where he heard a vast number of hadith. There he discovered a compilation by the ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym on the Companions’ names. I say: I possess it in Abū Nuʿaym’s own handwriting. He began to annotate and critique that book in one hundred and ninety places (11), which angered the Banū al-Jujandī [who became partisan against him] (12); they expelled him, and he left the city disguised in a single wrap. While on the road to Mosul he studied the work of al-ʿUqaylī on al-jarḥ wa-al-taʿdīl (13), and the Ḥanafīs rose up against him because of the entry (14) on Abū Ḥanīfa (15), so he too departed from there, fearful and on the alert.
(1) In the printed edition, the phrase “outside the Eastern Gate” follows here.
(2) In the printed edition: Mahallat al-Salihiyya (the Salihiyya quarter).
(3) In manuscripts A and B: wa lam yanzil ‘indahu ahad (“and no one would lodge at his house”).
(4) In the printed edition: wa lakin (“but”).
(5) In the printed edition: al-khayr wa al-najaba (“goodness and nobility”).
(6) Bashar said: “Thus he said,” and al-Dhahabi transmitted from his teacher Abu Bakr ibn Tarkhan from Shaykh al-Muwaffaq: “We met him at the end of his life, and he lodged us in his madrasa … We stayed with him for one month and nine days, then he died, and we performed the funeral prayer for him at night in his madrasa.” Tarikh al-Islam, vol. 12, p. 255.
(7) Found only in the printed edition.
(8) His biography appeared earlier under the events of 597 AH in this volume.
(9) His biography appeared earlier under the events of 583 AH in this volume.
(10) In the printed edition: irtahala (“he departed”).
(11) He authored a treatise based on these discussions, Tabyin al-Isaba li-awhaam hasalat fi ma’rifat al-Sahaba (Clarification of the Errors in the Knowledge of the Companions). Al-Hafiz Abu Musa al-Madini praised it, saying, “He was granted success in clarifying these mistakes,” and al-Dhahabi remarked, “In it he displayed striking memorization and complete knowledge.” Tarikh al-Islam, vol. 12, p. 1205 (Bashar).
(12) In the printed edition: fa baghdhuhu (“so they hated him”).
(13) This work was published as al-Du‘afa’ al-Kabir (The Major Collection of Weak [Narrators]), 4 vols., ed. Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu’ti Amin Qal‘aji, Beirut, 1404 AH/1984 CE.
(14) Found only in manuscript B.
(15) A biography of Abu Hanifa appears in the aforementioned work of al-‘Aqili, in which the author levels numerous criticisms and accusations of disbelief against Abu Hanifa; however, the editor, may Allah reward him, provided a sound rebuttal in the margin.