Yahyā b. ʿAlī b. Fāḍil b. Baraka b. Fāḍlan. He was the shaykh of the Shāfiʿīs in Baghdad. Initially, he took fiqh lessons from the Nizāmiyya instructor Saʿīd b. Muḥammad al-Zarʿ. Then he migrated to Khurāsān. There, he studied under Shaykh Muḥammad al-Zabīdī, a student of al-Ghazālī. He returned to Baghdad. He had mastered the science of munāẓara (dialectical disputation), as well as the sciences of ḥisāb (arithmetic) and farāʾiḍ (Islamic inheritance law). He became a sayyid (leader) among the people of Baghdad and attained a position of leadership. Students and fuqahāʾ (jurists) benefited from him. A madrasa was built for him, and he began teaching there. His fame spread everywhere. His students increased in number. He frequently recited the Qurʾān al-Karīm and listened to ḥadīth. He was a handsome, refined, and elegant elder. One of his poems is as follows:
"If you wish to reach the rank of the noble,
Help others and act with fairness.
If a tyrant wrongs you, leave it to time,
For time will fully bring justice to it."