like a servant to the two of them. He was a poor man with several dependents and would take from the zakah and voluntary alms whatever met his needs. In the last part of his life he resided in Homs. Eloquent and articulate, he left marginal notes and authored works on legal theory and other subjects. He was devout, possessed goodness and uprightness, and from memory would address the people every Friday, from the congregational prayer until the ʿaṣr prayer. I met him once in the company of our shaykh al-Mizzī when the latter returned from Homs; his phrasing was forceful and fluent, and his learning moderate. He leaned toward Sufism and spoke about spiritual states, deeds, hearts, and the like, and he often mentioned Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah.
He died in Homs on the twenty-second of Ṣafar of this year, and the shaykh used to urge people to show him kindness and would give him material support.
Ibn al-Dawālībī al-Baghdādī
The righteous, learned, worshipful, widely-travelled, authoritative, long-lived scholar ʿAfīf al-Din Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad (1) ibn ʿAbd al-Muḥsin ibn Abī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Ghaffār al-Baghdādī al-Azjī, the Ḥanbalī known as Ibn al-Dawālībī, shaykh of the Mustanṣiriyyah Dār al-Ḥadīth (2). He was born in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 638 AH (3). He heard a great amount of ḥadith and possessed lofty certificates of transmission. He busied himself with memorising al-Khiraqī (4), excelled in grammar and other disciplines, and composed fine poetry. A pious man, he lived past ninety and became a destination for those who travelled throughout Iraq.
He passed away on Thursday, the twenty-fourth (5) of Jumādā al-Ūlā and was buried in the cemetery of Imām Aḥmad, in (6) the Graveyard of the Martyrs—may Allah have mercy on him.
He granted me an ijāzah among those to whom he granted authorisations from the shaykhs of Baghdad, and unto Allah is all praise.
Chief Judge Shams al-Din Ibn al-Ḥarīrī
Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad (7) ibn Ṣafī al-Din Abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Anṣārī, the Ḥanafī. Born in 653 AH, he heard ḥadith, studied diligently, read al-Hidāyah (8), and was a competent jurist,