He once declared, regarding a particular wording that al-Asmaʿī had transmitted: “I heard it from a thousand Bedouins in a form different from this.” (1)

Thaʿlab said: “I remained with Ibn al-Aʿrabi for nineteen years. About one hundred people would attend his gatherings, and I never once saw a book in his hand. (2) Linguistic knowledge and prodigious memorization ended with him.” (3)

Al-Azhari stated: “Ibn al-Aʿrabi was righteous, ascetic, devout, and truthful. He memorized what no one else memorized. He learned copiously from the tribes of Banū Asad and Banū ʿUqayl, and he accompanied al-Kisāʾī in grammar.” (4)

His father had been a Sindhi slave.

The author says: He produced many literary works, including History of the Tribes. He was a man of the Sunnah, firmly committed to it. He died in Sāmarrāʾ in 231 AH.

It was said that he was the foster-son of al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Muḥammad al-Ḍabbī, the compiler of al-Mufaḍḍaliyyāt, and that he took knowledge from him.

He used to say: “It is acceptable in Arabic speech to alternate between the letters ḍād and ẓāʾ.” (5)

It is also reported that he died on the thirteenth of Shaʿbān.