Abu Ya'la al-Farra'

al-Qadi Abu Yaʿla Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Khalaf ibn Ahmad ibn al-Farraʾ, shaykh of the Hanbalis and their final authority in his time. He was born in Muharram 380 AH, held judicial responsibility in the precinct of the caliph's residence, taught and issued legal opinions for years, and the authority of the school came to rest with him. ¹

He was an imam in jurisprudence and wrote many fine works in the school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He combined leadership, shrewdness, truthfulness, good character, devotion, asceticism, humility, a dignified bearing and the following of the early predecessors (al-salaf). He owned some works that were unique to him, among them al-Zahir by Ibn al-Anbari and al-Matar by Ibn Durayd, and he was the last to narrate from Abu al-Qasim Musa al-Sarraj. He died on the night of Monday and was buried on the twentieth of Ramadan 458 AH, aged seventy-eight. al-Sharif Abu Jaʿfar washed him, by his bequest to him. His will was that nothing be buried with him except the cloth he had spun for himself, and that no mourning gathering be held. A countless crowd gathered, the markets were closed, and the chief judge al-Damghani walked in his funeral procession with a group of jurists, judges and witnesses, and the Naqib of the Hashimites. His grave is prominent in the cemetery of Bab Harb. ¹