He travelled abroad and studied jurisprudence under Imām al-Ḥaramayn. Having mastered the Shāfiʿī school and its principles, he went on to Baghdad, where he was appointed to the chair of the Niẓāmiyyah in 493 AH and remained there until he died.

Leading imams graduated under his tutelage. He was counted among the foremost orators, enjoyed both wealth and prestige, and left behind a number of valuable works (1).

He transmitted hadith from Zayd ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Āmilī and others, while those who narrated from him include Saʿd al-Khayr, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Ghālib, and Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī.

Al-Silafī said, “I heard the jurists report that al-Juwaynī, whenever his pupils engaged in debate, used to say: ‘Verification belongs to al-Khawāfī (2), fluidity to al-Ghazālī, and clarity to al-Kiyā.’”

Al-Kiyā died in Muḥarram 504 AH, aged fifty-three years and two months, and people referred to him as “the Sun of Islam” (3).

Ibn al-Athīr relates that al-Kiyā, the professor at the Niẓāmiyyah, was accused of being a Bāṭinī (Ismāʿīlī). Sultan Muḥammad therefore had him arrested, but witnesses affirmed his innocence and he was released (4).