Al-Mizzi begins the quest for hadith, start of 675/1276

Al-Mizzi began seeking hadith on his own initiative at the start of 675/1276, aged about twenty-one ^{1 2}; among his fellow pupils was Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, who remained a life-long friend ³.

He heard extensively from the pupils of Ibn Tabarzad, Hanbal, al-Kindi, Ibn al-Kharistani and their likes, and heard the mother books — the Musnad, the Six Books, al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, the Sira, the Muwatta, the Zuhd, Hilyat al-Awliya, the Sunan of al-Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa and the Tarikh of al-Khatib, plus thousands of ajza'; his teachers numbered near a thousand ^{4 2}, and among them was Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi ².