On being ransomed, Ḥushiel went to Kairouan, an ancient seat of Talmudical scholarship (Harkavy, Teshubot ha-Ge'onim, Nos. 199, 210).
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According to the Sefer Ha-Kabbalah of Abraham ibn Daud, Chushiel was one of the four scholars who were captured by Ibn Rumaḥis, an Arab admiral, while voyaging from Bari to Sebaste to collect money "for the dowries of poor brides." Ḥushiel was sold as a slave in North Africa, but he and the other three rabbis were ransomed by Jewish communities in Alexandria, Cordoba, and Kairouan.
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H. Grätz, Harkavy, and D. Kaufmann claim that he, with the other three scholars, came from Babylonia, while S.J. Rapoport, I.H. Weiss, and Isaac Halévy give Italy as his birthplace.
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Ḥushiel was certainly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the Talmudical teachers of the 10th century, and Samuel ha-Nagid, recognizing his importance and value, ordered that memorial services in his honor should be celebrated in Granada, Lucena, and Córdoba.