What is behind the statement "Were it not 'Iyad the Maghrib would be unknown"?

There's a famous quote about al-Qadi 'Iyad القاضي عياض بن موسى, which is often mentioned: > لولا عياض لما عُرف المغرب/ لولا عياض ما عرف المغرب Which translates to: > Where it not 'Iyad the Maghrib would be unknown Or an other version of the quote saying: > لولا عياض ما ذُكر المغرب Which translates to: > Where it not 'Iyad the Maghrib wouldn't be mentioned This quote(s) may refer to the depth of 'Iyad's knowledge, these are his well renowned works: - a-Shifa الشفا بتعريف حقوق المصطفى about attributes and miracles of the Prophet (pbuh) - Mashqriq al-Anwar مشارق الأنوار على صحاح الآثار about difficult terms and strangeness (gharib) or errors in the narrations of sahih al-Bukhari, sahih Muslim and al-Muwatta' - Ikmal al-Mu'allim إكمال المعلم بفوائد صحيح مسلم a commentary on sahih Muslim - al-I'laam bi hudood qawa'id al-Islam الإعلام بحدود قواعد الإسلام about the foundations of Islam: a-Shahadatan, as-Salat, as-Siyam, a-Zakat and al-Hajj - tarteeb al-Madarik -his book on the Maliki madhhab and its scholars- ترتيب المدارك وتقريب المسالك لمعرفة أعلام مذهب مالك However this could also refer to the fact that 'Iyad was among the first scholars from the western Islamic states that didn't need to travel to the east (al-Mashriq) to seek knowledge, as the west (al-Maghrib) and Muslim Iberian peninsula (al-Andalus) had enough great scholars. My question are: - Does this famous quote have a source? - Are there further explanations and meanings of this quote? And if so which?