He is best known as the author of the Persian language pharmacopoeia Ekhtiyarat i Badi i. Attar was born in 1329-1330 CE (730 AH) in Shiraz, and lived during the rule of the Injuids and the Muzaffarids.
His father Kamal ol Din Hosein Ansari was a well-known physician, and had migrated from Isfahan to Shiraz.
A collection of biographies - Fazilat e Elm u Hikmat va Tawarikh e Hukama ("The Virtue of Science and The Philosophy and Biography of Sages") - is also attributed to him; this book is also known as Kitab li-Valad Haji Zain ol Attar ("The Book of Haji Zain ol Attar's son").
A comprehensive pharmacopoeia of simple and compound remedies, it is probably the most popular Old Persian medical book.
Hakim Mohammad Ali al Hoseini of Hyderabad wrote a commentary titled Tatmim Ekhtiyarat i Qutb Shahi on Attar's work.