ABŪ NAṢR AL-ESMĀʿĪLĪ, an alleged teacher of Abū Ḥāmed Ḡazālī (450-505/1058-1111); it is not possible to identify him. A well-known Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. Emām Abū Bakr Aḥmad al-Esmāʿīlī taught in Gorgān but died in 405/1014-15 (Sobkī, Ṭabaqāt¹ III, p. 37; Ebn ʿAsāker, Tabyīn kaḏeb al-moftarī, Damascus, 1347/1928-29, p. 231). A suggested identification is Emām Abu’l-Qāsem Esmāʿīl b. Masʿada b. Esmāʿīl b. Emām Abū Bakr Esmāʿīlī, who died in Gorgān in 477/1084-85 (Sobkī, Ṭabaqāt¹ III, pp. 129-30).