[His Journeys in Pursuit of Knowledge]

When Ibn Jarīr had grown up and his father permitted him to travel, he left the city of Āmul. He was twenty years old. Throughout his lifetime, his father continued sending him support from time to time wherever he traveled.

Abū Ja‘far then entered the City of Peace. He had hoped to hear hadith from Abū Abd Allāh Ahmad ibn Hanbal, but this did not come to pass, as Ahmad died shortly before he arrived. Moreover, Abū Abd Allāh had ceased transmitting hadith several years earlier. Abū Ja‘far therefore remained in the City of Peace and recorded a great deal from its scholars. He then made his way to Basra and heard hadith from the surviving scholars there at the time, including Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Harashī, Imād ibn Mūsā al-Qazzāz, Muhammad ibn Abd al-A‘lā al-San‘ānī, Bishr ibn Mu‘ādh, Abū al-Ash‘ath, Muhammad ibn Bashshār—known as Bundār—and many others. He recorded a great deal from them. Along the way, he also recorded material from his Wāsiṭī teachers. He then proceeded to Kufa, where he recorded hadith from Abū Kurayb Muhammad ibn al-Alā al-Hamadhānī, Hannād ibn al-Sarī, Ismā‘īl ibn Mūsā, and others.

He then returned to the City of Peace, where he recorded more hadith, studied jurisprudence, remained for a time, and turned his attention to the Quranic sciences. He then traveled westward to Egypt. Along the way, he studied extensively with shaykhs in the military districts of Syria, the coastal regions, and the frontier garrisons. He reached al-Fustāṭ (1) in 253 AH. A number of shaykhs and scholars still remained there, and he recorded extensive material from them concerning the teachings of Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ibn Wahb, and others. He then returned to Syria before going back to Egypt.

He said:

“When I entered Egypt, there was not a single scholar who did not meet me and test me in the branch of knowledge in which he was proficient.”

He then returned to the City of Peace and again recorded hadith. Thereafter, he returned to Tabaristān—his first return there; his second was in 290 AH. He then returned to Baghdad and took up residence at