He was originally from Tatā, a village in the Egyptian Delta.
He was the younger brother of ʾAḥmad al-Tatāʾī al-ʾAnṣārī. He was married to Zaynab, daughter of the amir Jarbāsh al-Karīmī and former wife of al-Ẓāhir Ṭaṭar, to a daughter of al-Ẓāhir Ṭaṭar, and to at least three more women. He had children, including a son Muḥammad.
He was ṣāḥib of Zayn al-Dīn ʾAbu l-Khayr al-Naḥḥās, but then he fell out with him. He was patronized by various sultans, especially by al-Ẓāhir Jaqmaq and al-ʾAshraf Khushqadam.
He was wakīl bayt māl, wakīl sulṭān, nāẓir jawālī, nāẓir kiswa, nāẓir al-bīmāristān al-Maṣūrī, nāẓir khānqāh Saʿīd al-Suʿadāʾ, nāẓir jaysh, nāẓir khāṣṣ, and mudabbir mamlaka in Egypt.
Before becoming politically active, he started off as a smalltime scholar in the Azhar mosque, then he transformed into a successful commercial entrepreneur, and he regularly travelled to the Ḥijaz, and at least once to Yemen. He eventually died in Mecca.