He may have killed somebody from his tribe when he was young and this may have been the reason for him to seek refuge in Tamegroute, a village known for an ancient sanctuary, where he started his religious studies.

When he returned to Tamegroute his master, Sheikh Ahmad, recognising his talent as a poet, supported the writing of his first work in Shilha, entitled Al-Ḥawḍ "The Reservoir".

The dating of his last and shorter work in Berber is uncertain, al-Naṣīḥah "The Advice", is an ode in praise of Sidi (Saint) Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir, al-Hawzali's spiritual guide and grand master of the Nāṣirīyah Sufi order (founded by his grandfather), probably inspired as a funeral eulogy by his death, around 1708.

Almost a third of all known Shilha manuscripts contain parts of his works, and the largest Berber text in existence is a commentary by al-Hasan al-Tamuddizti (d. 1898) on al-Hawzali's al-Hawd.

al-Hawzali, in his honor, is also the name of rhymed couplets and long poems that Ishilhin women chant daily or weekly, between the afternoon and sunset Islamic obligatory prayer times, in the tomb complexes of local holy figures.