Al-Mufaddal lived for many years under the caliphs of the Umayyad line until their overthrow by the Abbasid Revolution in 750. In 762 he took part in the rising led by Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah, the Alid, called "The Pure Soul", against the caliph al-Mansur, and after the defeat and death of Ibrahim was cast into prison. Al-Mansur, however, pardoned him on the intercession of his fellow tribesman Musayyab ibn Zuhair of Dabba, and appointed him the instructor in literature of his son, afterwards the caliph al-Mahdi. It was for this prince that, at al-Mansur's instigation, al-Mufaddal compiled the "Mufaddaliyat".