The journey in search for knowledge taken by al-Isfahani may not be particularly outstanding by the standard of his time,[lower-alpha 23] but the diversity of his sources' occupations and fortes is beyond doubt impressive. His informants can be assigned into one or more of the following categories:[lower-alpha 24] philologists and grammarians;[88] singers and musicians;[89] booksellers and copyists (sahhafun or warraqun, sing. sahhaf or Warraq);[90] boon companions;[91][lower-alpha 25] tutors (muʾaddibūn, sing. muʾaddib);[92] scribes (kuttāb, sing. kātib);[93] imams or preachers (khuṭabāʾ, sing. khaṭīb); [94][95] religious scholars (of the ḥadīth, the Qurʾānic recitations and exegeses, or jurisprudence) and judges;[96] poets;[97] and akhbārīs (transmitters of reports of all sorts, including genealogical, historical, and anecdotal reports).[98] The variety of the narrators and their narrations enriched al-Iṣfahānī's literary output, which covers a wide range of topics from amusing tales to the accounts of the Alids' martyrdom.[lower-alpha 26] His erudition is best illustrated by Abu Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi's (329–384/941–994) comment: