He was born in 464 AH.
In his home village he heard hadith from Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-ʿĀrif; in Naysābūr he studied with Mūsā ibn ʿImrān, Abū Bakr ibn Khalaf, the ḥāfiẓ Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Samarqandī, and a number of others.
He also received an ijāza (license to transmit) from the Qur’an exegete Abū al-Ḥasan al-Wāḥidī, through which he related al-Wāḥidī’s commentaries.
He settled permanently in Baghdad and transmitted a large body of material.
Among those who narrated from him were al-Samʿānī and others, Abū Aḥmad ibn Sukaynah, Abū al-Yumn al-Kindī, al-Fatḥ ʿAbd al-Salām, and a group besides them. Abū al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Muqayyir alone possessed his general ijāza.
Al-Samʿānī said: “He travelled extensively, met many shaykhs, served the Sufis and the senior scholars. In character he was altogether refined, naturally gifted, gracious in appearance, and humble. He died on the eighth of Ramaḍān 549 AH and was buried on the platform of Junayd—may Allah have mercy on him. Al-Fatḥ heard from him the Forty ḥadith collection of al-Ḥākim.”
128 – Ibn al-ʿArabī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Andalusī
The Imām, erudite scholar, ḥadith master and judge: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn