son of Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Yūsuf al-Anṣārī, an Andalusian from Almería who later settled in Murcia, widely known as Ibn Ḥubaysh.
Ḥubaysh was in fact his maternal uncle, so he was attributed to him.
He was born in Almería (1) in 504 AH.
He studied the various Qur’anic readings with Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qaṣabī, Ibn Abī Rajāʾ al-Balawī, and a number of others.
In jurisprudence he trained under Abū al-Qāsim ibn Ward and Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Nāfiʿ.
He heard ḥadith from many teachers, among them Abū ʿAbd Allah ibn Waḍḍāḥ, ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq ibn Ghālib, ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Anṣārī, and Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Mawhib (2).
While in Córdoba (3) he met Yūnus ibn Mughīth, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Makkī, the chief judge Muḥammad ibn Aṣbagh, the judge Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī, and several others.
Among those who transmitted from him were Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭarsūsī, Abū Sulaymān ibn Ḥawṭ Allah, Muḥammad ibn Wahb, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ṣulṭān, ʿAlī ibn Abī al-ʿĀfiya, Nadhīr ibn Wahb, the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Qurṭubī, Abū al-Khaṭṭāb ibn Dihyah, ʿAlī ibn al-Sharīk, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Saddād, and many others—people journeyed to him from far-flung regions.
He studied belles-lettres under Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd the grammarian and achieved great proficiency in Arabic.