He compiled the encyclopedia al-Kitāb al-Mukhaṣṣaṣ (المخصص) (Book of Customs) and the Arabic language dictionary Al-Muḥkam wa-al-muḥīt al-aʻẓam [2] (المحكم والمحيط الأعظم) (The Great and Comprehensive Arbiter".
The historian Khalaf ibn ʻAbd al-Malik Ibn Bashkuwāl (ابن بشكوال) (1183-1101) in his book Kitāb aṣ-Ṣilah (كتاب الصلة) (Book of Relations)[3] gives Ismāʻīl as the name of his father, in agreement with name given in the Mukhassas.
[4][5] Mohammed ibn Ahmed ibn Uthman Al-Dhahabi's biographic encyclopedia Siyar A'lam al-Nubala (سير أعلام النبلاء) (Lives of The Noble Scholars)[6] is the main biographic source.
He lived in the taifa principality of "Dénia and the Eastern Islands" (طائفة دانية والجزائر الشرقية) under the rule of Emir Mujahid al-Amiri al-Muwaffaq (الأمير مجاهد العامري) (1044-1014) and he travelled to Mecca and Medina.
He studied in Cordova under the renowned grammarian Abu al-Sa'ad ibn al-Hasan al-Rubai al-Baghdadi (أبو العلاء صاعد بن الحسن الربعي البغدادي) (d.417AH/1026AD) exiled in Andalusia, and with Abu Omar al-Talmanki (أبي عمر الطلمنكي) (429-340AH).