His birth was sometime before 500 AH.

He travelled to Khurasan, where he studied jurisprudence under Muhammad ibn Yahya. There he auditioned Sahih Muslim and the compilations of al-Bayhaqi from Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Farawi, ‘Abd al-Mun‘im al-Qushayri, and HibatuLlah al-Sayyidi, and he remained there for a period. He then made his way to Baghdad and copied a great deal, after which he reached Damascus around 540 AH, bringing his books with him. He lodged with the hadith scholar Ibn ‘Asakir, who was delighted at his arrival, for he had relied on him for much of what the two of them had jointly heard. In Damascus he narrated the two Sahihs.

Al-Sam‘ani said: “I kept his company frequently, and he was one of the devoted worshippers. We went together to Nuqan to hear al-Tha‘labī’s Tafsir (1). I observed in him manners and spiritual states that are seldom combined in a man of piety, and I transcribed from him (2).”

Ibn ‘Asakir said: “He was invited to teach in Hama, so he went there; then he was called to teach in Aleppo, where he taught in the Ibn al-Ajami Madrasa. He was reliable and staunchly committed to the Sunnah (3).”

I (the author) say: Those who narrated from him include al-Qasim ibn ‘Asakir, Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Harastani, Yahya ibn Mansur al-Yukhlufi, and others.

He died in Aleppo, in Dhu al-Hijjah 544 AH.

Ishaq ibn Tariq informed us; Abu Ya‘la ‘Abd al-Karim ibn ‘Abd al-Samad al-‘Uqayli and his cousin Yahya ibn Muhammad also informed us, saying: Yahya ibn Mansur informed us,