Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. Jaʿfar al-Sarrāj Abū Muḥammad. He was a qurrāʾ (expert reciter of the Qur'an). He was from Baghdad. He was born in the year 416 of the Hijra. He recited the Qur'an according to the transmission variants. He listened to many hadiths. Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb transmitted the hadith juzʾ (juzʾ: a thirtieth of the Qur'an, here a collection of hadiths) he heard from him. He was a sound, steadfast, sharp-minded, literate, poet, and a transmitter whose verse was beautiful. He composed books on the science of Qur'anic recitation; in addition to Kitāb al-Tanbīh wa'l-Ḥarakī and other works, he also has Masāriʿ al-ʿUshshāq and some other books. One of his poems is as follows:
"Perish those who, disregarding their own ignorance, reproach the great scholars. Perish also those who, raising their wrists, applaud such people. If it were not for the great scholars, the possessors of the pen, the writers, the pages and notebooks,
If it were not for those who preserved the Prophet's sharia (sharia: the sacred law) by transmitting it among virtuous communities,
If it were not for those who, transmitting from sound and steadfast transmitters, conveyed his hadith, you would have seen ignorant-speaking soldiers coming one after another. They would be in a vile misguidance.
‘Allah is the helper of the oppressed.’ I would call them the people of hadith, intelligent, insightful individuals.
They are upon pulpits and thrones in the gardens of bliss.
All of them are the companions of Ahmad (i.e., the Prophet Muḥammad, peace and blessings be upon him).
They have returned after drinking their fill from the Pool of Kawthar."
Ibn Khallikān has also transmitted other poems of his containing very beautiful and luminous meanings. Another of his poems is as follows:
"A person whose hair and beard have turned white claims the vigor of youth.
He darkens it by having a tattoo made under his chin. His trying to claim youth by darkening his chin is sufficient as a lie for him."