I say: Our shaykh, the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī—may Allah envelop him in His mercy (1)—produced an edited version of his book al-Kamal fī Asmāʾ al-Rijāl, which deals with the transmitters of the Six Books, correcting in it a great many passages, close to one thousand in all. That Imām al-Mizzī is one whom no one can rival, equal, or dispute (2), and his work al-Tahdhīb has never been preceded by anything like it, nor will anything comparable ever catch up to it (3). So may Allah have mercy on the two authors of the Tahdhīb and the Kamāl (4); in their own time they were rarities in the science of narrators (5), distinguished for their memorisation, precision, audition and transmission, and their fluent recital of the texts and names of men. As for the envier, he will never prosper nor attain any lofty goal (6).
Ibn al-Athīr said in al-Kāmil: In this year there died Abū al-Futūḥ Asʿad ibn Maḥmūd al-ʿAjlī (7), author of Tatimmat al-Tatimmah (8)—namely Asʿad ibn Abī al-Faḍāʾil Maḥmūd ibn Khalaf al-ʿAjlī, the Shāfiʿī jurist from Isfahān, the preacher titled Muntajab al-Dīn (11). He studied hadith, mastered jurisprudence, and excelled; he composed Tatimmat al-Tatimmah to the work of Abū Saʿd al-Harawī (12). He was an ascetic and devout, and he also wrote Sharḥ Mushkilāt al-Wasīṭ wa-l-Wajīz.
Ibn Khallikān (13) said: He died in Ṣafar of the year 600 AH at the age of eighty-five—may Allah have mercy on him (14).
(1) Not present in the edition.
(2) In the edition: “lā yumārā wa lā yujārā” (not to be disputed or contested).
(3) Bashar notes that this is one of the most important books he edited in the 1980s and on which he wrote a commentary by God’s grace; it was published by the al-Risāla Foundation in 35 volumes. Later, some publishers pirated his edited text and a certain Syrian scholar—infamous for appropriating others’ efforts—attached his name to it. We pray for God’s protection and well-being.
(4) In the edition: “May God have mercy on them.”
(5) In the edition: in Asma’ al-Rijal (Names of the Men).
(6) Cited from the edition only.
(7) In manuscripts A and B: al-‘Ajlī, the Shāfi‘ī jurist in Isfahan, who died in Safar; he was a distinguished imam and the author of Tammat at-Tamāmah.
(8) His biography appears in Ibn al-Athīr (9/267), Wafayyāt al-A‘yān (1/208–209), al-‘Ibar (4/311–312), and Mir’āt al-Jinān (3/498).
(9) In the edition: “al-Fadl,” a corruption. Our reading follows Ibn al-Dubaythī’s Tārīkh (fol. 213 of the Martyr ‘Ali Pasha volume), al-Dhahabī’s Tārīkh al-Islām (12/1193), and others (Bashar).
(10) In the edition: “ibn Mahmūd,” an outright error; Abū’l-Faḍā’il was Mahmūd, as recorded by Ibn al-Athīr, Ibn al-Dubaythī, al-Dhahabī, and others (Bashar).
(11) In the edition: “Muntakhab al-Dīn,” a scribal mistake; no such epithet exists among known titles (Bashar).
(12) Not present in B.
(13) Wafayyāt al-A‘yān (1/209).
(14) Cited from B only.