He was born in Shawwāl of the year 581 AH.
He heard ḥadīth from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Khirāqī, Ismāʿīl al-Janzawī, and Barakāt al-Khushūʿī.

His brother ʿIzz al-Dīn Muḥammad then took him on a journey, and in Baghdad he heard from ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn Kulayb, al-Mubārak ibn al-Maʿṭūsh, and several others.

He received the transmission of the Musnad from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Majd. He then travelled to Isfahān, where the two of them heard from Khalīl ibn Badr, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ṭarsūsī, Masʿūd al-Jammāl, Abū al-Makārim al-Labbān, and their peers.

In Egypt he studied under al-Artāḥī, Fāṭimah bint Saʿd al-Khayr, and her father.

The brothers set out again for Iraq, where he heard in Wāsiṭ from Abū al-Fatḥ al-Mandāʾī.

In Nīshāpūr he heard from Manṣūr al-Furāwī and al-Muʾayyad al-Ṭūsī.

He devoted himself to the discipline, copying books in his own hand, collecting material, extracting reports, and teaching. He studied jurisprudence with Shaykh al-Muwaffaq, learned grammar in Baghdad from Abū al-Baqāʾ, and recited the Qur’an to his uncle al-ʿImād.

Ibn al-Ḥājib said: “I asked al-Ḍiyāʾ about him, and he replied, ‘A precise memorizer, devout and trustworthy.’”

Al-Barzalī said: “A ḥadīth master, god-fearing and distinguished.”

Al-Ḍiyāʾ remarked: “His recitation was correct, swift, and pleasing.”

Ibn al-Ḥājib also said: “No one of his time equalled him in memorization, knowledge, and integrity. He possessed sound judgment and abundant merit, was humble yet dignified and solemn, generous and open-handed. People accepted him wholeheartedly, and he was devoted to worship, piety, and spiritual striving.”

Al-Ḍiyāʾ further observed: “He busied himself with jurisprudence and ḥadīth until he became a leading authority in his day. He journeyed again to Isfahān, often travelling on foot, and became an exemplar. People benefited from his study-circles, the like of which had not been seen before. He was magnanimous, broad-minded, and tireless in seeing to the needs of our companions, to the point that my heart would tighten on his account because of the debts he shouldered—many of them never reimbursed him …,”