Although Jildakī was one of the most prolific Muslim writers on alchemy, practically nothing is known of his life save that he flourished during the eighth century A.H., wrote at Cairo and Damascus, and was alive in Jumāda II, A.H. 743 (A.D. 1342). There is even some doubt about his name, for while Ḥājjī Ḫalīfa gives it as ‘Izz ad-Dīn Aidamir ibn ‘Alī ibn Aidamir al-Jildakī, a book ascribed to Jildakī and lithographed at Bombay in 1891 prefers the form ‘Alī ibn Muhammad Aidamir al-Jildakī, and the catalogue of the Khedivial (now Royal) Library at Cairo has ‘Alī ibn Aidamir ibn ‘Alī al-Jildakī. The last variation is almost certainly incorrect and probably arose through a confusion of Jildakī with an ‘All ibn Aidamir who died at Damascus in A.H. 762. E. Wiedemann, who included a section on Jildakī in his Zur Alchemie bet den Arabern, follows Brockelmann in adopting this erroneous form.