Al-Juwayni was born on 17 February 1028 in a village on the outskirts of Naysabur called Bushtaniqan in Iran,^[7] Al-Juwayni was a prominent Muslim scholar known for his gifted intellect in Islamic legal matters. Al-Juwayni was born into a family of legal study. His father, Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah b. Yusef al-Juwayni, was a well-known master of Law in the Shafi′i community as well as a Shafi'i teacher and his older brother, Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali al-Juwayni, was a Sufi teacher of Hadith.

Al-Juwayni grew up in Naysabur,^[7] an intellectually thriving area drawing scholars to it. Naturally, Juwayni did not have to search far for his education. At the time, the teachings of the Shafi'i school were closely linked to the Ash'arite theology which al-Juwayni decided to study for several years after the death of his father, though he would later regret the time he invested in studying and debating the school's principles while on his deathbed.^[8] He took over for his father at this point and began his teaching career at only 19 years of age.^[7]