He performed the pilgrimage, met the leading scholars, and mastered the seven canonical readings under Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḥḥām al-Ṣiqillī and others.
He also received transmission from Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Musharraf, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥaḍramī, and Abū Bakr al-Ṭurṭūshī.
Those who narrated from him include: Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī—who was older than he—Ṣanīʿat al-Mulk ibn Ḥaydara, Shujāʿ ibn Muḥammad al-Mudlijī, al-Athīr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Binān—who read to him—Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad al-Lamṭī (1), and the distinguished Nafīs Asʿad ibn Qādūs, the last of his pupils.
He travelled to Syria, then visited and took up residence in Egypt, where he married. He earned his living as a professional scribe, teaching his wife and daughter to write until they equalled him. He would take a manuscript, divide it among the three of them, and each would copy a portion such that their hands could scarcely be told apart, save in the rarest of instances. He lived in the Rashidah Mosque outside Fusṭāṭ, and the people of Egypt—even the Fatimid grandees—held him in great esteem. Yet, despite his learning, good works, fear of Allah, and sincerity (2), he would accept nothing from anyone.
He likewise recited the seven readings under Abū ʿAlī ibn Ballīmah and Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥaḍramī.
He attained mastery in Arabic and jurisprudence, and his handwriting was highly prized for its precision and the blessing associated with it.
When a severe drought struck Egypt, several people offered him gifts, but he refused and remained content.