Masʿūd ibn Maḥmūd ibn Masʿūd al-Ṭuraythīthī, the Nishapuri, was born in 505 AH.
He acquired his legal training under his father, under Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā—the student of al-Ghazālī—and under ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī, known as Sulṭān.
He then studied in Marw with Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, and he heard ḥadith from Hibat Allāh ibn Sahl al-Sayyidī and ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Khawārī.

Reared and educated by his father, he mastered the disciplines, advanced rapidly, issued legal rulings, and preached even while his own teachers were still alive. He served as deputy lecturer at the Niẓāmiyya of Nishapur, became one of the foremost debaters, and attained the rank of imām.

In 538 AH he travelled to Baghdad, where he preached and engaged in scholarly disputation. He then settled in Damascus, where he met Abū Naṣr al-Qushayrī. Gifted in many fields, he was warmly received in Damascus during the tenure of Abū al-Fatḥ al-Maṣṣīṣī and lectured at the Mujāhidiyya. When Abū al-Fatḥ died, he succeeded him as professor at the Ghazāliyya.
Later he moved to Aleppo and was appointed to teach at the two madrasas founded by Nūr al-Dīn and Asad al-Dīn. From there he travelled to Hamadhān and taught for a period before returning to Damascus, where he once again held the chair at the Ghazāliyya and the Shāfiʿī scholars studied under him.

He was noted for his pleasant character—amiable and free of pretence. Subsequently he was sent to Baghdad as an envoy.

Those who transmitted from him include Abū al-Mawāhib ibn Ṣaṣrā, his brother al-Ḥusayn, Tāj ibn Ḥamawiyya, and others.