In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

O Allah, bless Muhammad, his family, and grant them peace.

The righteous shaykh, the authoritative, long-lived transmitter, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Muqayr al-Baghdādī—the tutor—narrated to us; it was read to him while I listened in the closing days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, in the year 632 AH. It was said to him, “Abū Manṣūr Masʿūd ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥuṣayn has related this to you,” who said, “Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Khabbāz informed us,” who said, “Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishrān al-Muʿaddil read it to us,” who said, “Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṣafwān al-Barḏʿī reported,” and he said: