After the death of his father while he was a child, he became a student of al-Waqqashi (1017—1095) of Toledo (a colleague of Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm az-Zarqālī).
In Cairo, he entered the service of the Fatimid ruler Abū Tamīm Ma'add al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh and the Vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah.
His service continued until 1108, when, according to Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, his attempt to retrieve a very large Felucca laden with copper, that had capsized in the Nile, ended in failure.
Abu as-Salt had built a mechanical tool to retrieve the Felucca, and was close to success when the machine's silk ropes fractured.
Abu al-Salt then left Egypt for Mahdia in Tunisia, the capital of the Zirids in Ifriqiya where he entered the service of king Yaḥyā ibn Tamīm as-Ṣanhājī and where his son, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was born.