[4] Abu Tawwama was born into a Sunni Muslim family from Bukhara in modern-day Uzbekistan, a city located on the Silk Road famed as a centre of scholarship.
[4] After completing his education to a good level, he decided to move to Delhi in circa 1260, where he taught for 10 years with the permission of Sultan Ghiyas ud din Balban.
[5] In circa 1270, Abu Tawwama and his family were requested by the Sultan to move to the city of Sonargaon in Bengal, where Islam was not properly settled among the populace.
Others have theorised that the reason for moving was because the Sultan of Delhi feared that the scholar's influence was becoming a threat to his dominion and so exiled Abu Tawwama to Sonargaon.
[6][7] Abu Tawwama, Zaynuddin and their family then set off for Bengal, passing through Maner Sharif in Bihar where they stayed for 4 years serving alongside Yahya Maneri.