—the Elder—an eminent ḥadith scholar, compiler, instructor, textual critic, painstaking master, and prolific author (1). He had been the client of one of the Mosuli families, though some said of a family from Ḥarrān (2). He first applied himself in the Dār al-Ḥadīth of Mosul, then moved on to Ḥarrān. He travelled through many regions, listening to a great number of shaykhs, both in the east and in the west. He remained in Ḥarrān until he died there in this same year. He had been born in 536 AH, and was a devout, upright, and virtuous man—may Allah have mercy on him.

Al-Wajīh “the Blind” (3): Abū Bakr al-Mubārak ibn al-Mubārak (4) ibn Saʿīd al-Dahhān, the grammarian of Wāsiṭ, known by the sobriquet al-Wajīh.

He was born in Wāsiṭ, then came to Baghdad and devoted himself to Arabic language and grammar, mastering the science and memorising a vast amount of Arab poetry. He also studied ḥadith. Originally a Ḥanbalī, he later shifted (5) to the school of Abū Ḥanīfa, and thereafter became a Shāfiʿī. He was appointed professor of grammar at the Niẓāmiyya. Concerning him a poet (6) said, in ṭawīl metre:

Will someone convey from me to al-Wajīh a message—
although messages (7) avail him nothing?

You adopted the creed of Nuʿmān after that of Ibn Ḥanbal,
and that was only when provisions failed you;

Nor did you choose the view of al-Shāfiʿī out of piety (8),
but simply because you fancy what is within reach.

Before long, without doubt, you will turn to Mālik;
so consider well what you will then be saying.

He had committed to memory a large store of anecdotes, proverbs, and witticisms, and he knew Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Greek.