He was one of Malik's best known companions and had a tremendous influence in spreading the Maliki school in Egypt and the Maghreb.
He was born at Old Cairo in Dhu al-Qi‘dah in the year 125 AH (743 CE).
He was a member, by adoption, of the tribe of Quraysh: a native of Egypt, was a mawla to Rehana, who was herself a mawla to Abu Abd ArRahman Yazid Ibn Unais, of the tribe of Fihr.
[3] He received his early training in the Islamic sciences under the tutelage of the Egyptian scholar Uthman ibn Abd al-Hakam al-Judhami (d. 779), and travelled thereupon to Medina to study with Malik ibn Anas.
Ibn Wahb has a high standing in the Maliki school as he was one of Malik's first and most prominent companions.