Where he lived is not known, for though "Avilla" is given at the end of his translation of Al-Ghazali's Maqasid, the town-name as well as the date is probably the copyist's.
It seems from his Ezer ha-Dat that he had been a friend of Abner of Burgos; but when the latter, after conversion, sent him one of his anti-Jewish writings, he replied in a stinging satirical poem.
has no meaning, for virtue and wisdom contain happiness in themselves, while sin and folly contain unhappiness.
Of Ezer ha-Dat, the first book, in eight chapters ("she'arim", literally "gates"), is a demonstration of the superiority of the Jewish religion, in which Ibn Pulgar attacks both apostates and Christians.
The second book, a dialogue between an aged partisan of Talmudic Judaism ("Torani") and a youthful philosopher, has been printed in Eliezer Ashkenazi's "Ta'am Zekenim" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1855).