as al-Qasīr (1), the second as Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿAtāridī (2), and the third as Ibn (3) Ḥuṣayn (4), the Companion.
Likewise: “Sulaymān, from Sulaymān, from Sulaymān.” The first is Ibn Aḥmad ibn Ayyūb al-Ṭabarānī, the second Ibn Aḥmad al-Wāsiṭī, and the third Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dimashqī, better known as Ibn Bint Shuraḥbīl.
The same coincidence may occur for both the transmitter and his teacher (5). A case in point is Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Hamadhānī (6), the perfumer, who is well-known (7) for narrating from Abū ʿAlī al-Iṣbahānī, the blacksmith. Each of them is named al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad; they agree in this but differ in their kunya and in their nisbah (8) referring to city and occupation.
Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī authored a substantial treatise on the subject.
(1) Manuscript A reads “bil-Basir” (with the All-Seeing).
(2) H has “Abu al-Raja al-Atari.”
(3) A and H give only “Abu.”
(4) Z records “al-Husayn.”
(5) A reads “li’l-rawi wa shaykhihi” (for the transmitter and his shaykh), whereas T has “al-rawi wa shaykhuhu” (the transmitter and his shaykh).
(6) A, B, C, H, W, Z, T, and K spell the nisba as “al-Hamdani” with an undotted dal. The more accurate form is “al-Hamadhani” with a dotted dhal; see al-Samani, al-Ansab, 13:426. Al-Zabidi notes in Taj al-Arus, 9:501, that Persians originally wrote it with a plain dal, the dot being added when the name was Arabised. A marginal note in M explains that “al-Hamadhani,” with the mim and dhal vocalised, denotes the town, whereas the form with a quiescent mim and undotted dal refers to the tribe. The present edition adopts the first spelling.
(7) Z and Y add “al-mashhur” (well-known).
(8) A inserts “wa-nasab” (and the lineage).