Ṣafwān was born in
Murcia (whence the
nisba al-Mursī) into a prominent local family, the Banū Idrīs. He was born between 1164 and 1166, probably after the
battle of Faḥṣ al-Jullāb on 15 October 1165. He began writing poetry while still a child. Much of what we know of his family comes from his own
Zād al-musāfir. He records that he studied under his own father, Abū Yaḥyā, and also under another relative, the
qāḍī Abu ʾl-Qāsim ibn Idrīs.
Abu ʾl-ʿAbbās ibn Maḍāʾ taught him the
Ṣaḥīḥ of
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj and
Ibn Bashkuwāl gave him the
ijāza (the right to transmit
ḥadīth) when he was only seventeen years old. He also studied under the prominent Murcian
Abu ʾl-Qāsim Ibn Ḥubaysh; under
Abu ʾl-Walīd ibn Rushd, the grandfather of the famous philosopher
Ibn Rushd; and under the vizier
Abū Rijāl ibn Ghalbūn. In the
Zād, Ṣafwān gives a list of his other teachers: Abū Bakr ibn Mughāwir, Abu ʾl-Ḥasan Ibn al-Qāsim, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥumayd, Abū Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ḥajarī, Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥawṭ Allāh and Ibn ʿAyshūn. Besides poetry and
ḥadīth, Ṣafwān was regarded as an expert in
adab (etiquette). His closest friend was Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥāmid (died 1223/4), the vizier of the Caliph
al-ʿĀdil. His most famous student was
Abu ʾl-Rabīʿ ibn Sālim al-Kalāʿī. According to his biographers, Ṣafwān travelled to
Marrakesh in search of patronage. He wrote panegyrics of the Almohad caliph
al-Manṣūr hoping to earn enough money for his daughter's dowry. When this failed, he turned to writing panegyrics of
Muḥammad. Subsequently, Muḥammad appeared to al-Manṣūr in a dream and spoke on behalf of Ṣafwān, whose financial difficulties were promptly addressed by the caliph. Although he had a daughter of marriageable age, Ṣafwān was not yet 40 years old at his death. He died in Murcia on 8 or 9 July 1202 and was buried next to the mosque of al-Jurf. His father said the prayer at his funeral. ==Writings==