He was born in 460 AH.

After the year 500 AH he came to Damascus, where he preached and began enjoining what is right, but King Tughtekin could not tolerate him. He was a grammarian, poor yet content, and deeply devoted to worship. He later returned to Damascus as an envoy of the caliph al-Mustarshid concerning the Bāṭinīs. In jurisprudence he was Ḥanafī and in creed he followed the way of the early generations.

Ibn Hubayra said: “I sat with him from early morning until shortly before noon, and he was chewing something. I asked him about it and he replied, ‘A date pit with which I stave off hunger; I have found nothing else.’” (1)

Ibn al-Jawzī (2) said: “He spoke the truth even when it was bitter and, for Allah’s sake, feared no one’s reproach.”

It is reported that he entered upon the vizier al-Zaynabī, who was wearing the robe of ministry while people were congratulating him. He said, “This is a day of mourning, not a day of felicitation.” When asked, “Why?” he replied, “Am I to congratulate him for wearing silk?!”

Ibn al-Jawzī (3) also related: The jurist ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĪsā told me that he heard al-Zabīdī say: “I set out for Medina alone. Night overtook me near a mountain, so I climbed it and called out, ‘O Allah, tonight I am Your guest.’ I was then addressed: ‘Welcome, guest of Allah. At sunrise you will pass by some people at a well eating bread and dates; when they invite you, accept.’ The next day I travelled on until a well came into view. I approached it and found a group eating bread and dates. They invited me, and I accepted.”

Al-Samʿānī said: “He knew grammar, preached, and would sit with us to hear narrations from Judge Abū Bakr and others, though he had not deliberately come for that purpose. He was an extraordinary man, and he lived in the days of al-Mustarshid.”