He was born in Egypt at the beginning of the year 405 AH (1).
He heard hadith from Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Nahhas, Abu al-ʿAbbas ibn al-Hajj, Abu Saʿd Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Malini, Abu al-ʿAbbas Munir ibn Ahmad al-Khashshab, Ismaʿil ibn Rajaʾ al-Adib, al-Hasan ibn Jaʿfar al-Killali, Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Nazif, al-Khasib ibn ʿAbd Allah the judge, Shuʿayb ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Minhal, Abu al-Nuʿman Turab ibn ʿUmar, Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-ʿAttar, Abu Khazim Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, Ismaʿil ibn Bakran, ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn Abi al-Kiram, and others. He was the last person to narrate from several teachers such as al-Nahhas and al-Malini.
Those who transmitted hadith from him include Abu ʿAli al-Sadafi, Muhammad ibn Tahir, Abu al-Fath Sultan ibn Ibrahim the jurist, Sulayman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Dawud al-Farisi, ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Salama al-Rawhani (2), ʿAbd al-Karim ibn Siwar al-Takkaki, ʿAbd al-Haqq ibn Ahmad al-Baniyasi, Muhammad ibn Hamza al-ʿIrqi (3) the philologist, the judge Abu Bakr ibn al-ʿArabi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Rifaʿa al-Saʿdi, and others.
Ibn Sukkara said: “He was a jurist with authored works. He accepted the post of judge, but after issuing judgment for a single day he asked to be relieved, withdrew to al-Qarafa (4), and was regarded as the leading musnid of Egypt after al-Habbal (5).”