He was born sometime after 360 AH.

He reported ḥadith from: Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān; Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Rāzī; Ḥusaynuk ibn ʿAlī al-Tamīmī; Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Dahtham; Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Baḥīrī; Muḥammad ibn Bishr al-Baṣrī; Shāfiʿ ibn Muḥammad al-Isfarāyinī; Abū Bakr ibn Mihrān the Qurʾān-reciter; the ḥadith master Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭarāzī; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Bālūī; Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Marwānī; and others of their rank.

Those who narrated from him (1) include al-Bayhaqī and al-Sukkarī. He transmitted copiously, and the highest chains of transmission of his time converged upon him.

Among those who received from him were: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Ghāfir; Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Farāwī; Hibat Allāh ibn Sahl al-Sayyidī; Tamīm ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Jurjānī; Zāhir al-Shahhāmī; ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn al-Qushayrī; and many others.

ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Ismāʿīl said: “He was skilled in medicine, horsemanship, and the etiquette of arms. In his day he stood out for his mastery of the various branches of learning. He obtained lofty isnāds in ḥadith and literature, met the leading grammarians of Baghdad, and great numbers heard from him, until I said: With his death most of these lines of transmission came to an end. He also composed fine poetry. He granted me authorization for all that he had heard, and I still possess his autograph (2).”

I say: He died in Ṣafar of the year 453 AH.

We received a large portion of his ḥadith through elevated ijāzah.