, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. al-Nuʿmān al-Ḥārit̲h̲ī al-ʿUkbarī, Imāmī S̲h̲īʿī theologian and jurist, was born on 11 D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 336/23 May 948 (other dates mentioned, 333 and 338, seem less likely) in Suwayḳat Ibn al-Baṣrī near ʿUkbarā.
His family was of Southern Arab descent of the Banu ’l-Ḥārit̲h̲ b. Kaʿb, and his father had been a teacher in Wāsiṭ before moving to ʿUkbarā. After his father’s profession, al-Mufid was also known as Ibn al-Muʿallim. He came to Bag̲h̲dād as a boy and already in Muḥarram 347/April 958 heard ḥadīt̲h̲ in the Mosque of al-Manṣūr. His teacher in fiḳh …