Instead of indicating al-Isfahani's birthplace,[21][22][23][24][lower-alpha 6] this epithet seems to be common to al-Isfahani's family. Every reference al-Isfahani makes to his paternal relatives includes the attributive, al-Isfahani.[26][27] According to Ibn Hazm (384–456/994–1064), some descendants of the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan b. Muhammad (72–132/691–750), al-Isfahani's forefather,[lower-alpha 7] settled in Isfahan.[32] However, it has to be borne in mind that the earliest information we have regarding al-Isfahani's family history only dates to the generation of his great-grandfather, Ahmad b. al-Ḥaytham, who settled in Samarra sometime between 221/835–6 and 232/847.[33]