al-Hafiz Abu Musa al-Maqdisi

The hafiz Jamal al-Din 'Abdallah ibn 'Abd al-Ghani ibn 'Abd al-Wahid ibn 'Ali ibn Surur al-Maqdisi the Hanbali — Abu Musa, hafiz son of a hafiz; born in Shawwal 581, he heard 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Khiraqi at Damascus, Ibn Kulayb at Baghdad, Khalil al-Razani at Isfahan, al-Ariyahi in Egypt and Mansur al-Farawi at Nishapur; he wrote much, devoted himself to hadith, collected, benefited, studied fiqh and letters. ²

Al-Diya' said he became "a landmark among the landmarks — hafiz, exact, trustworthy," and 'Umar ibn al-Hajib said his age had no equal to him in memorisation, knowledge and honesty; al-Nasih ibn al-Hanbali and Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi slighted him for leaning toward sultans, but Ibn Rajab answered that those two were the ones most inclined to them, while Abu Musa was more pious and learned than both. Al-Malik al-Ashraf built him the Dar al-Hadith on the Slope in his name, made him its shaykh and fixed his stipend; he died before it was finished. ²