giving gifts of equal or greater amount in return.

In his late twenties, he travelled to Syria, Palestine, India and Egypt. In Beirut, he made the highly significant connection of al-Abbas ibn al-Walid ibn Mazyad al-'Udhri al-Bayruti (c. 169-270/785-86 to 883-84). Al-Abbas instructed Tabari in the Syrian school's variant readings of the Qur'an and transmitted through